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MESSAGES TO AMERICA
By SHOGHI EFFENDI
GUARDIAN OF THE &BAHA'I FAITH
Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed
to the &Baha'i's of North America 1932-1946
"As the end of the First Century of the &Baha'i Era
approaches, as the shadows descending upon and enveloping
mankind steadily and remorselessly deepen, this community,
which can almost be regarded as the solitary champion of
the Faith in the Western World, is increasingly evincing
and demonstrating its capacity, its worth, and ability as
the torchbearer of the New, the World Civilization which
is destined to supplant in the fulness of time the present
one."--Shoghi Effendi, December 3, 1940.
&BAHA'I PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
WILMETTE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
1947
MESSAGES TO AMERICA
(U.S., 1947)
FILENAME: MA.FN
FILEDATE: 1-1-95
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MESSAGES TO AMERICA
&NABIL'S NARRATIVE
Feel impelled appeal entire body American believers to henceforth regard
&Nabil's soul-stirring Narrative as essential adjunct to reconstructed Teaching
program, as unchallengeable textbook in their Summer Schools, as source
of inspiration in all literary and artistic pursuits, as an invaluable
companion in times of leisure, as indispensable preliminary to future
pilgrimage to &Baha'u'llah's native land, and as unfailing instrument to allay
distress and resist attacks of critical, disillusioned humanity. Cablegram
June 21, 1932.
IMMORTAL SPIRIT
Greatest Holy Leaf's immortal spirit winged its flight Great Beyond.
Countless lovers her saintly life in East and West seized with pangs of
anguish. Plunged in utterable sorrow humanity shall ere long recognize its
irreparable loss. Our beloved Faith, well nigh crushed by devastating blow of
&Abdu'l-Baha's unexpected Ascension, now laments passing of last remnant of
&Baha'u'llah, its most exalted member. Holy Family cruelly divested of its
most precious great Adorning. I for my part bewail sudden removal of my
sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life. Remains will repose in
the vicinity of the Holy Shrines. So grievous a bereavement necessitates
suspension for nine months through &Baha'i world every manner religious
festivity. Inform Local Assemblies and groups hold in befitting manner
memorial gatherings to extol a life so laden with sacred experiences, so rich
in imperishable memories. Advise holding additional Commemoration Service
of strictly devotional character in the Auditorium of the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Cablegram July 15, 1932
UNITED WILL, CONCERTED ACTION
I am deeply conscious of the many obstacles that stand in the path of
the American believers in their stupendous endeavor to attain their goal--a
goal on which our dearly beloved Greatest Holy Leaf had set her fondest
hopes. I cannot, however, overlook, much as I sympathize with them in
their financial tribulations and anxieties, the mysterious power that resides
in the united will and concerted action of all the members of that
self-sacrificing community--a community which, since the passing of
&Abdu'l-Baha, has put an impetus to the advancement of the Cause out of all
proportion to its numerical strength, its youthfulness, and experience of the
powers latent in this sacred Faith. What an untold wealth of blessings will
flow out of a renewed, an irrevocable resolution, representing the combined
will of all
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the steadfast lovers of the Cause of God in that land, to carry out in its
entirety during the few remaining months a Plan on which so much that is
vital to its world-wide interests depends! The American believers, the
stout-hearted supporters of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, have already given too
many evidences of their preponderating influence in the direction of its
affairs to allow the slightest disappointment to mar the radiance of their past
achievements. Their will to succeed must eventually triumph.
October 27, 1932
NON-PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS
The handling of this delicate and vital problem regarding
non-participation by &Baha'is of East and West in political affairs, calls for
the utmost circumspection, tact, patience and vigilance, on the part of those
whose function and privilege it is to guard, promote and administer the
activities of a world-wide, ever-advancing Cause. The misgivings and
apprehensions of individual &Baha'is should be allayed and eventually
completely dispelled. Any misconception of the sane and genuine patriotism
that animates every &Baha'i heart, if it ever obscures or perplexes the minds
of responsible government officials, should be instantly and courageously
dissipated. Any deliberate misrepresentation by the enemies of the Cause of
God of the aims, the tenets and methods of the administrators of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah should be vigorously faced and its fallacy pitilessly exposed.
The Cause to which we belong stands on the threshold of an era of unprecedented
expansion. Its problems are many, diverse and challenging. Our methods and
ways of approach must likewise be characterized by unusual sagacity, consummate
skill and wisdom. He will surely never fail us in meeting the needs of a
critical hour.
March 16, 1933
PERSONALITIES SUBORDINATED
Concerning the removal of believers I feel that such a vitally important
matter should be given the most serious consideration and preferably be
referred to the National Assembly for further consideration and final
decision. We should be slow to accept and reluctant to remove. I fully
approve and wholeheartedly and unreservedly uphold the principle to which you
refer that personalities should not be made centers around which the community
may revolve but that they should be subordinated under all conditions
and however great their merits to the properly constituted Assemblies. You
and your co-workers can never over-estimate or over-emphasize this cardinal
principle of &Baha'i Administration.
April 11, 1933
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MOMENTOUS CONVENTION
Message to 1933 Convention
Entire &Baha'i world stirred with expectations to witness results of
American believers' momentous Convention. On its proceedings hang issue of
incalculable benefit to world-wide Faith of &Baha'u'llah. To its delegates is
given great opportunity to release forces which will usher in an era whose
splendor must outshine the heroic age of our beloved Cause. Supreme Concourse
waiting for them to seize it.
Cablegram June 1, 1933
AN EMINENT RANK
Keith's precious life offered up in sacrifice to beloved Cause in
&Baha'u'llah's native land. On Persian soil, for Persia's sake, she
encountered, challenged and fought the forces of darkness with high
distinction, indomitable will, unswerving, exemplary loyalty. The mass of her
helpless Persian brethren mourns the sudden loss of their valiant emancipator.
American believers grateful and proud of the memory of their first and
distinguished martyr. Sorrow stricken, I lament my earthly separation from an
invaluable collaborator, an unfailing counselor, an esteemed and faithful
friend. I urge the Local Assemblies befittingly to organize memorial
gatherings in memory of one whose international services entitled her to an
eminent rank among the Hands of the Cause of &Baha'u'llah.
Cablegram October 30, 1933
POTENTIALITIES OF MAJESTIC EDIFICE
Message to 1934 Convention
American believers' inspired leadership steadily unfolding to &Baha'is
world over the potentialities of the majestic edifice heralding formative
period of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. Their unerring vision conceived its
matchless design. &Abdu'l-Baha's own hands laid its cornerstone. Their
dynamic faith reared its structure. Their sustained self-sacrifice crowned it
with immortal glory. May the flame of their unconquerable enthusiasm continue
glowing undimmed in their hearts till its naked frame is enveloped in its
shining mantle.
Cablegram June 4, 1934
THE VOTING RIGHT
I feel I must reaffirm the vital importance and necessity of the right of
voting--a sacred responsibility of which no adult recognized believer should
be deprived, unless he is associated with a community that has not as yet been
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in a position to establish a local Assembly. This distinguishing right which
the believer possesses, however, does not carry with it nor does it imply an
obligation to cast his vote, if he feels that the circumstances under which
he lives do not justify or allow him to exercise that right intelligently and
with understanding. This is a matter which should be left to the individual
to decide himself according to his own conscience and discretion.
April 28, 1935
UNPRECEDENTED IMPETUS
Message to 1935 Convention
Heartily reciprocate sentiments conveyed in your message. Appeal to
assembled delegates and incoming National Assembly to deliberate on measures
required to stimulate all local communities and groups to lend immediate,
unprecedented impetus to teaching activities throughout United States
and Canada. Sustained concentration on this paramount issue can alone
reveal the potentialities of beloved Temple and enable the superb
self-sacrifice associated with it to yield its fairest fruit.
Cablegram April 29, 1935
SEPARATION FROM OUTWORN CREEDS
The separation that set in between the institutions of the &Baha'i Faith
and the Islamic ecclesiastical organizations that oppose it--a movement that
has originated in Egypt and is now spreading steadily throughout the middle
East and will in time communicate its influence to the West--imposes upon
every loyal upholder of the Cause the obligation of refraining from any word
or action that might prejudice the position which our enemies have in recent
years and of their own accord, proclaimed and established. This historic
development, the beginnings of which could neither be recognized nor even
anticipated in the years immediately preceding &Abdu'l-Baha's passing, may
be said to have signalized the Formative Period of our Faith and to have
paved the way for the consolidation of its administrative order. As this
movement gains momentum, as it receives added impetus from the attitude
and future action of the civil authorities in Persia, it will inevitably
manifest its repercussions in the West and will rouse the leaders of the Church
and finally the civil authorities to challenge the claims and eventually to
recognize the independent status of the Religion of &Baha'u'llah. Nothing
whatever in the meantime should be said or done by any of us, whether in the
political field or in our relations with ecclesiastical organizations, that
would tend to confuse the issues with which our struggling Cause will sooner or
later be confronted. We should accept no position, should avoid any
affiliations or commitments that could in any way harm our future position or
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provide our potential enemies with weapons with which they can resist that
complete emancipation of our Cause or retard its ultimate recognition and
victory. Though our Cause unreservedly recognizes the Divine origin of
all the religions that preceded it and upholds the spiritual truths which lie
at their very core and are common to them all, its institutions, whether
administrative, religious or humanitarian, must if their distinctive character
is to be maintained and recognized, be increasingly divorced from the outworn
creeds, the meaningless ceremonials and man-made institutions with
which these religions are at present identified. Our adversaries in the East
have initiated the struggle. Our future opponents in the West will, in their
turn, arise and carry it a stage further. Ours is the duty, in anticipation of
this inevitable contest, to uphold unequivocally and with undivided loyalty
the integrity of our Faith and demonstrate the distinguishing features of
its divinely appointed institutions.
June 15, 1935
THE NATIONAL FUND
As the activities of the American &Baha'i community expand, and its
world-wide prestige correspondingly increases, the institution of the National
Fund, the bedrock on which all other institutions must necessarily rest and
be established, acquires added importance, and should be increasingly supported
by the entire body of the believers, both in their individual capacities,
and through their collective efforts, whether organized as groups or as local
Assemblies. The supply of funds, in support of the National Treasury,
constitutes, at the present time, the life-blood of those nascent institutions
which you are laboring to erect. Its importance cannot, surely, be
overestimated. Untold blessings shall no doubt crown every effort directed to
that end. I am eagerly and prayerfully awaiting the news of an unprecedented
expansion in so vital an organ of the administrative Order of the Faith.
July 29, 1935
THE NEW HOUR HAS STRUCK
Convey to assembled believers celebrating termination entire dome unit
of &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar my heart-felt congratulations on triumphant progress
of their undeniably glorious enterprise. To prayers and testimonies ascending
to Throne of &Baha'u'llah I am moved to add my fervent though inadequate
tribute to solidarity of so dazzling an achievement. The forces which
progressive revelation of this mighty symbol of our Faith is fast releasing
in heart of a sorely tried continent no one of this generation can correctly
appraise. The new hour has struck in history of our beloved Cause, calling
for nation-wide, systematic, sustained efforts in teaching field, enabling
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thereby these forces to be directed into such channels as shall redound to the
glory of our Faith and to the honor of its institutions.
Cablegram October 26, 1935
THIS IS TRULY PROVIDENTIAL
This new stage in the gradual unfoldment of the Formative Period of
our Faith into which we have just entered--the phase of concentrated teaching
activity--synchronizes with a period of deepening gloom, of universal
impotence, of ever-increasing destitution and wide-spread disillusionment in
the fortunes of a declining age. This is truly providential and its
significance and the opportunities it offers us should be fully apprehended and
utilized. Now that the administrative organs of a firmly established Faith are
vigorously and harmoniously functioning, and now that the Symbol (i.e., the
House of Worship) of its invincible might is lending unprecedented impetus
to its spread, an effort unexampled in its scope and sustained vitality is
urgently required so that the moving spirit of its Founder may permeate
and transform the lives of the countless multitudes that hunger for its
teachings. That the beloved friends in America, who have carried triumphantly
the banner of His Cause through the initial stages of its development, will in
a still greater measure prove themselves capable of meeting the challenge
of the present hour, I, for one, can never doubt. Of the evidences of their
inexhaustible vitality I am sufficiently and continually conscious. My fervent
plea will not, I feel certain, remain unanswered. For them I shall continue
to pray from all my heart.
January 10, 1936
&ABDU'L-BAHA'S HISTORIC APPEAL
Message to 1936 Convention
Convey to American believers abiding gratitude efforts unitedly exerted
in teaching field. Inaugurated campaigns should be vigorously pursued,
systematically extended. Appeal to assembled delegates ponder historic appeal
voiced by &Abdu'l-Baha in Tablets of the Divine Plan. Urge earnest
deliberation with incoming National Assembly to insure its complete
fulfilment. First Century of &Baha'i era drawing to a close. Humanity
entering outer fringes most perilous stage its existence. Opportunities of
present hour unimaginably precious. Would to God every State within American
Republic and every Republic in American continent might ere termination of this
glorious century+F1 embrace the light of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah and
establish structural basis of His World Order.
Cablegram May 1, 1936
+F1 The First Century of the &Baha'i Era, ending May 22, 1944.
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FRESH CONQUESTS AND UNPRECEDENTED TRIUMPHS
I fervently hope and pray that the year into which we have just entered
may be signalized by fresh conquests and unprecedented triumphs in the
teaching field within the United States and beyond its confines. A systematic,
carefully conceived, and well-established plan should be devised, rigorously
pursued and continuously extended. Initiated by the National representatives
of the American believers, the vanguard and standard-bearers of the
radiant army of &Baha'u'llah, this plan should receive the wholehearted, the
sustained and ever-increasing support, both moral and financial, of the
entire body of His followers in that continent. Its supreme immediate
objective should be the permanent establishment of at least one center in
every state of the American Republic and in every Republic of the American
continent not yet enlisted under the banner of His Faith. Its ramifications
should gradually be extended to the European continent, and its scope
should be made to include those countries, such as the Baltic States, Poland,
Greece, Spain and Portugal, where no avowed believer has established any
definite residence. The field is immense, the task gigantic, the privilege
immeasurably precious. Time is short, and the obligation sacred, paramount
and urgent. The American community must muster all its force, concentrate
its resources, summon to its aid all the faith, the determination and
energies of which it is capable, and set out, single-minded and undaunted,
to attain still greater heights in its mighty exertions for the Cause of
&Baha'u'llah.
May 30, 1936
INTENSIFY TEACHING WORK A THOUSANDFOLD
I am eagerly awaiting the news of the progress of the activities initiated
to promote the teaching work within, and beyond, the confines of the American
continent. The American believers, if they wish to carry out, in the
spirit and the letter, the parting wishes of their beloved Master, must
intensify their teaching work a thousandfold and extend its ramifications
beyond the confines of their native land and as far as the most distant
outposts of their far-flung Faith. The Tablets of the Divine Plan invest your
Assembly with unique and grave responsibilities, and confer upon it privileges
which your sister Assemblies might well envy and admire. The present
opportunity is unutterably precious. It may not recur again. Undaunted by the
perils and the uncertainties of the present hour, the American believers must
press on and prosecute in its entirety the task which now confronts them. I
pray for their success from the depths of my heart.
July 28, 1936
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNDERTAKING
I cannot allow this communication to be sent without adding a few
words in person and stress afresh the significance of the undertaking in
which the entire &Baha'i community has embarked. The promulgation of the
Divine Plan, unveiled by our departed Master in the darkest days of one of
the severest ordeals which humanity has ever experienced, is the key which
Providence has placed in the hands of the American believers whereby to
unlock the doors leading them to fulfil their unimaginably glorious Destiny.
As the proclamation of the Message reverberates throughout the land, as its
resistless march gathers momentum, as the field of its operation widens,
and the numbers of its upholders and champions multiply, its potentialities
will correspondingly unfold, exerting a most beneficent influence not only
on every community throughout the &Baha'i world, but on the immediate
fortunes of a travailing society. The repercussions of this campaign are
already apparent in Europe, India, Egypt, &Iraq and even among the sore-tried
communities in Persia and Russia. The Faith of God is gaining in
stature, effectiveness and power. Not until, however, the great enterprise
which you are now conducting runs its full course and attains its final
objective, at its appointed time, can its world-encompassing benefits be
fully apprehended or revealed. The perseverance of the American believers
will, no doubt, insure the ultimate realization of these benefits.
November 14, 1936
A COMPLETE REDEDICATION
The progress of the teaching campaign is most remarkable and reassuring:
the uninterrupted prosecution of this holy enterprise and its extension
to the South American continent and the islands of the Pacific will no doubt
attract unimaginable blessings and must entail far-reaching consequences.
In the course of this year, when the American believers are commemorating
the 25th anniversary of &Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America, a mighty impetus
should be lent to this campaign which you have so splendidly initiated. A
complete rededication to its ideals, its purposes and requirements on the
part of all individuals and Assemblies, can alone befit such a nation-wide
celebration. I pray that you may fulfil your high destiny.
March 22, 1937
INSTITUTION OF GUARDIANSHIP
NOW FURTHER REINFORCED
Deeply moved by your message. Institution of Guardianship, head
cornerstone of the Administrative Order of the Cause of &Baha'u'llah, already
ennobled through its organic connection with the Persons of Twin Founders
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of the &Baha'i Faith, is now further reinforced through direct association with
West and particularly with the American believers, whose spiritual destiny
is to usher in the World Order of &Baha'u'llah. For my part I desire to
congratulate community of American believers on acquisition of tie vitally
binding them to so weighty an organ of their Faith.
Cablegram March 30, 1937
DUAL GIFT
Message to 1937 Convention
Dual gift providentially conferred upon American &Baha'i community
invests recipients with dual responsibility fulfil historic mission. First,
prosecute uninterruptedly teaching campaign inaugurated at last Convention
in accordance with Divine Plan. Second, resume with inflexible determination
exterior ornamentation of entire structure of Temple. Advise
ponder message conveyed to delegates through esteemed co-worker, Fred
Schopflocher. No triumph can more befittingly signalize termination of
first century of &Baha'i era than accomplishment of this twofold task.
Advise prolongation of Convention sessions to enable delegates consult
National Assembly to formulate feasible Seven Year Plan to assure success
Temple enterprise. No sacrifice too great for community so abundantly
blessed, so repeatedly honored.
Cablegram May 1, 1937
THE CALL HAS GONE FORTH ... THE PATH IS CLEAR
The responsibilities which, under your direction and in response to my
plea, the American community is now assuming, over and above the task
they have already undertaken in connection with the Divine Plan, proclaiming
in unmistakable terms their unswerving determination to prove themselves
worthy of the sublimity of their mission, and of their privileged
position among their sister communities in both the East and the West,--the
twofold task they have arisen to perform will, if carried out in time, release
the potentialities with which the community of the Greatest Name has been
so generously and mysteriously endowed by &Abdu'l-Baha. To carry out in
its entirety and to its final consummation this dual enterprise would shed on
the closing years of this first century of the &Baha'i Era a luster no less
brilliant than the immortal deeds which have signalized its birth, in the
heroic age of our Faith. To the American believers, the spiritual descendants
of the heroes of God's Cause, I again address my plea to arise as one soul
and to prosecute with unrelaxing resolve the high mission with which their
immediate destiny is inextricably interwoven. The call has gone forth, the
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path is clear, the goal manifest and within their reach. Though their
responsibilities be pressing and heavy and the obstacles formidable and
manifold, yet the spirit of our invincible Faith will enable them to conquer if
they arise unitedly and determinedly and persevere till the very end.
June 4, 1937
CONVENTION DELEGATES INCREASED
Election of hundred seventy-one delegates for this year's and future
Conventions absolutely essential. Admitted expansion American community
vitally demands it. Appeal delegates unable attend in person exercise
conscientiously ballot right by mail. Increased participation by believers in
Convention proceedings reinforces authority and broadens basis body national
representatives and knits them closer to entire body electorate. Advise
share message American believers.
Cablegram November 21, 1937
ALL SHOULD ARISE
As I lift up my gaze beyond the strains and stresses which a struggling
Faith must necessarily experience, and view the wider scene which the
indomitable will of the American &Baha'i community is steadily unfolding,
I can not but marvel at the range which the driving force of their ceaseless
labors has acquired and the heights which the sublimity of their faith has
attained. The outposts of a Faith, already persecuted in both Europe and
Asia, are in the American continent steadily advancing, the visible symbols
of its undoubted sovereignty are receiving fresh luster every day and its
manifold institutions are driving their roots deeper and deeper into its soil.
Blest and honored as none among its sister communities has been in recent
years, preserved through the inscrutable dispensations of Divine Providence
for a destiny which no mind can as yet imagine, such a community cannot
for a moment afford to be content with or rest on the laurels it has so
deservedly won. It must go on, continually go on, exploring fresh fields,
scaling nobler heights, laying firmer foundations, shedding added splendor
and achieving added renown in the service and for the glory of the Cause of
&Baha'u'llah. The seven year plan which it has sponsored and with which
its destiny is so closely interwoven, must at all costs be prosecuted with
increasing force and added consecration. All should arise and participate.
Upon the measure of such a participation will no doubt depend the welfare
and progress of those distant communities which are now battling for their
emancipation. To such a priceless privilege the inheritors of the shining
grace of &Baha'u'llah cannot surely be indifferent. The American believers
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must gird up the loins of endeavor and step into the arena of service with
such heroism as shall astound the entire &Baha'i world. Let them be assured
that my prayers will continue to be offered on their behalf.
November 25, 1937
ARCHBREAKER OF COVENANT
The Hand of Omnipotence has removed the archbreaker of &Baha'u'llah's
Covenant, his hopes shattered, his plottings frustrated, the society of his
fellow-conspirators extinguished. God's triumphant Faith forges on, its
unity unimpaired, its purpose unsullied, its stability unshaken. Such a death
calls for neither exultation nor recrimination, but evokes overwhelming pity
at so tragic a downfall unparalleled in religious history.
Cablegram December 20, 1937
CERTAIN VITAL REQUIREMENTS OF SEVEN YEAR PLAN
The Seven Year Plan, with which the immediate fortunes of the American
&Baha'i community are so closely interwoven, demands, at this critical
stage in its development, serious and prayerful consideration of certain vital
requirements, without which such a stupendous task can never be brought
to a successful completion. The evolution of the Plan imposes a three-fold
obligation, which all individual believers, all local Assemblies, as well as
the National Assembly itself, must respectively recognize and conscientiously
fulfil. Each and every believer, undaunted by the uncertainties, the perils
and the financial stringency afflicting the nation, must arise and insure, to
the full measure of his or her capacity, that continuous and abundant flow
of funds into the national Treasury, on which the successful prosecution of
the Plan must chiefly depend. Upon the local Assemblies, whose special
function and high privilege is to facilitate the admission of new believers
into the community, and thereby stimulate the infusion of fresh blood into
its organic institutions, a duty no less binding in character devolves. To
them I wish particularly to appeal, at this present hour, when the call of
God is being raised throughout the length and breadth of both continents
in the New World, to desist from insisting too rigidly on the minor observances
and beliefs, which might prove a stumbling block in the way of any
sincere applicant, whose eager desire is to enlist under the banner of
&Baha'u'llah. While conscientiously adhering to the fundamental qualifications
already laid down, the members of each and every Assembly should
endeavor, by their patience, their love, their tact and wisdom to nurse,
subsequent to his admission, the new-comer into &Baha'i maturity, and win
him over gradually to the unreserved acceptance of whatever has been
ordained in the teachings. As to the National Assembly, whose inescapable
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responsibility is to guard the integrity, coordinate the activities, and
stimulate the life, of the entire community, its chief concern at the present
moment should be to anxiously deliberate on how best to enable both individual
believers and local Assemblies to fulfil their respective tasks. Through
their repeated appeals, through their readiness to dispel all misunderstandings
and remove all obstacles, through the example of their lives, and their
unrelaxing vigilance, their high sense of justice, their humility, consecration
and courage, they must demonstrate to those whom they represent their
capacity to play their part in the progress of the Plan in which they, no
less than the rest of the community, are involved. May the all-conquering
Spirit of &Baha'u'llah be so infused into each component part of this
harmoniously functioning System as to enable it to contribute its proper share
to the consummation of the plan.
January 30, 1938
A YEAR HAS ALMOST ELAPSED
A year has almost elapsed since the Seven Year Plan has been launched
with characteristic vigor and noble enthusiasm by the American &Baha'i
Community. For no less than six consecutive years this two-fold and
stupendous enterprise, which has been set in operation, must, if the American
believers are to prove themselves worthy of their high calling, be wisely
conducted, continually reinforced and energetically prosecuted to its very
end. Severe and unprecedented as may be the internal tests and ordeals
which the members of this Community may yet experience, however tragic
and momentous the external happenings which might well disrupt the fabric
of the society in which they live, they must not throughout these six
remaining years, allow themselves to be deflected from the course they are
now steadily pursuing. Nay, rather, as the impelling forces which have set
in motion this mighty undertaking acquire added momentum and its potentialities
are more fully manifested, they who are responsible for its success must
as time goes on evince a more burning enthusiasm, demonstrate a higher
sense of solidarity, reveal greater depths of consecration to their task, and
display a more unyielding determination to achieve its purpose. Then, and
only then, will the pleas, the hopes and wishes of &Abdu'l-Baha, eternally
enshrined in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, be worthily acknowledged and
fulfilled. "Let your exertions, henceforth, increase a thousandfold" is the
earnest appeal voiced by Him in those Tablets. "Summon the people," He
exhorts them, "in these countries, capitals, islands, assemblies and churches,
to enter the &Abha Kingdom. The scope of your exertions must needs be
extended. The wider its range the more striking will be the evidences of
Divine assistance." "The moment," He solemnly affirms, "this Divine Message
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is carried forward by the American believers from the shores of America
and is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa
and of Australia ... this community will find itself securely established upon
the throne of an everlasting dominion.... Then will the whole earth resound
with the praises of its majesty and greatness." The Seven Year Plan, to
which every American believer is fully and irrevocably pledged, during the
closing years of the First Century of the &Baha'i Era, is in itself but an
initial stage in the unfoldment of &Abdu'l-Baha's vision of America's spiritual
destiny--a destiny which only those who will have successfully accomplished
this preliminary task can enable the rising generation who will labor
after them to fulfil in the course of the succeeding century.
April 14, 1938
DRAW NIGH UNTO &BAHA'U'LLAH
Message to 1938 Convention
On this auspicious occasion when number elected representatives American
&Baha'i Community is well-nigh doubly reinforced moved convey on
eve Thirtieth Convention to all delegates friends expression most loving
welcome. Gathered within House of Worship which enterprise persevering
loyalty self-abnegation American believers reared and adorned summoning
their aid vitalizing influence prayers meditations which Author their Faith
Himself revealed let them delegates visitors alike draw nigh unto &Baha'u'llah
that He may draw nigh unto them. Community American believers whose
hearts have been stirred by tragic tale events immortalizing early history
their Faith whose minds have been enriched by further measure fundamental
&Baha'i Teachings whose hands have been fortified by fashioning instruments
wherein embryonic World Order can mature must at so critical stage in
fortunes declining civilization seek purge galvanize their souls through daily
prayer meditation that can best sustain them in discharge task still initial
stage development. As token my gratitude to such community entrusted
beloved co-worker Mrs. Collins locks &Baha'u'llah's most precious hair
arranged preserved by loving hands Greatest Holy Leaf to rest beneath
dome of Temple nobly raised by dearly beloved believers in American
continent.
Cablegram April 27, 1938
MARCHING TOWARD THEIR GOAL
Pregnant indeed are the years looming ahead of us all. The twin processes
of internal disintegration and external chaos are being accelerated and
every day are inexorably moving towards a climax. The rumblings that
must precede the eruption of those forces that must cause "the limbs of
+P14
humanity to quake" can already be heard. "The time of the end," "the latter
years," as foretold in the Scriptures, are at long last upon us. The Pen of
&Baha'u'llah, the voice of &Abdu'l-Baha, have time and again, insistently and
in terms unmistakable, warned an unheeding humanity of impending disaster.
The Community of the Most Great Name, the leaven that must
leaven the lump, the chosen remnant that must survive the rolling up of
the old, discredited, tottering order, and assist in the unfoldment of a new
one in its stead, is standing ready, alert, clear-visioned, and resolute. The
American believers, standard-bearers of this world-wide community and
torch-bearers of an as yet unborn civilization, have girt up their loins,
unfurled their banners and stepped into the arena of service. Their Plan has
been formulated. Their forces are mobilized. They are steadfastly marching
towards their goal. The hosts of the &Abha Kingdom are rushing forth, as
promised, to direct their steps and reinforce their power. Through their
initial victories they have provided the impulse that must now surge and, with
relentless force sweep over their sister-communities and eventually overpower
the entire human race. The generality of mankind, blind and enslaved, is
wholly unaware of the healing power with which this community has been
endowed, nor can it as yet suspect the role which this same community is
destined to play in its redemption. Fierce and manifold will be the assaults
with which governments, races, classes and religions, jealous of its rising
prestige and fearful of its consolidating strength, will seek to silence its
voice and sap its foundations. Unmoved by the relative obscurity that
surrounds it at the present time, and undaunted by the forces that will be
arrayed against it in the future, this community, I cannot but feel confident,
will, no matter how afflictive the agonies of a travailing age, pursue its
destiny, undeflected in its course, undimmed in its serenity, unyielding in
its resolve, unshaken in its convictions.
July 5, 1938
UNBROKEN SOLIDARITY, UNQUENCHABLE ENTHUSIASM
I feel truly exhilarated as I witness the ever-recurrent manifestations
of unbroken solidarity and unquenchable enthusiasm that distinguish every
stage in the progressive development of the nation-wide enterprise which
is being so unflinchingly pursued by the whole American &Baha'i community.
The marked deterioration in world affairs, the steadily deepening gloom
that envelops the storm-tossed peoples and nations of the Old World,
invest the Seven Year Plan, now operating in both the northern and southern
American continents, with a significance and urgency that cannot be
overestimated. Conceived as the supreme agency for the establishment, in
the opening century of the &Baha'i Era, of what is but the initial stage in
+P15
the progressive realization of &Abdu'l-Baha's Plan for the American believers,
this enterprise, as it extends its ramifications throughout the entire New
World, is demonstrating its power to command all the resources and utilize
all the facilities which the machinery of a laboriously evolved Administrative
Order can place at its disposal. However we view its aspects, it offers in its
functioning a sharp contrast to the workings of the moribund and obsolescent
institutions to which a perverse generation is desperately clinging.
Tempestuous are the winds that buffet and will, as the days go by, fiercely
assail the very structure of the Order through the agency of which this twofold
task is being performed. The potentialities with which an almighty Providence
has endowed it will no doubt enable its promoters to achieve their
purpose. Much, however, will depend upon the spirit and manner in which
that task will be conducted. Through the clearness and steadiness of their
vision, through the unvitiated vitality of their belief, through the
incorruptibility of their character, through the adamantine force of their
resolve, the matchless superiority of their aims and purpose, and the
unsurpassed range of their accomplishments, they who labor for the glory of the
Most Great Name throughout both Americas can best demonstrate to the
visionless, faithless and restless society to which they belong their power to
proffer a haven of refuge to its members in the hour of their realized doom.
Then and only then will this tender sapling, embedded in the fertile soil of a
Divinely appointed Administrative Order, and energized by the dynamic
processes of its institutions, yield its richest and destined fruit. That the
community of the American believers, to whose keeping so vast, so delicate
and precious a trust has been committed will, severally and collectively
prove themselves worthy of their high calling, I for one, who in my
association with them have been privileged to observe more closely than
perhaps any one else the nature of their reactions to the momentous issues
that have confronted them in the past, will refuse to doubt.
September 10, 1938
LOYALTY TO WORLD ORDER OF &BAHA'U'LLAH
Loyalty to world order of &Baha'u'llah, security of its basic
institutions, both imperatively demand all its avowed supporters, particularly
its champion builders of the American continent, in these days when sinister,
uncontrollable forces are deepening the cleavage sundering peoples, nations,
creeds, and classes, resolve despite pressure of fast crystallizing public
opinion, abstain individually, collectively in word, action, informally as
well as in all official utterances and publications from assigning blame,
taking sides, however indirectly, in recurring political crises now agitating,
ultimately engulfing human society. Grave apprehension lest cumulative
+P16
effect of such compromises disintegrate fabric, clog channel of grace that
sustains system of God's essentially supra-national, supernatural order so
laboriously evolved, so recently established.
Cablegram September 24, 1938
NINE HOLY SOULS
Recent swift progress of Temple ornamentation prompts me entreat
American Community to focus immediate attention and center energies
upon corresponding acceleration in the Teaching enterprise formulated in
Seven Year Plan. Final phase in construction of &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar already
entered. Initial stage in the inaugurated Teaching Campaign still
untraversed. End of First Century rapidly approaching. Alaska, Delaware,
Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia
still unsettled. Universal, prolonged intensification in pioneer activity is
the crying need of this fateful hour. The establishment of one resident
believer in each virgin territory is the precondition to the full launching
of the subsequent, eagerly-anticipated stage aiming at the spiritual conquest
of the Southern Half of the Western Hemisphere. The Concourse on high
expectantly await, ready to assist and acclaim the nine holy souls who,
independently or as deputies, will promptly, fearlessly volunteer to forsake
their homes, cast away their attachments and definitely settle in these
territories to lay firm anchorage of the Administrative Order of this
undefeatable Faith. I am irresistibly urged and proud of the privilege to
pledge nine hundred pounds to facilitate the permanent settlement of pioneers
in these States and Provinces whose acts and heroic self-abnegation will mark
the conclusion of this shining Epoch in American &Baha'i history.
Cablegram January 26, 1939
THE RAREST PRIVILEGE EVER CONFERRED BY PROVIDENCE
UPON THE AMERICAN &BAHA'I COMMUNITY
Very soon we shall be entering the second half of the last decade of this,
the first century of the &Baha'i Era. The five remaining years should
essentially be consecrated to the imperative, the spiritual needs of the
remaining Republics of both Central and South America, for whose entry into the
fellowship of &Baha'u'llah the Plan was primarily formulated. The prime
requisite for the definite opening of what may come to be regarded as one
of the most brilliant chapters in American &Baha'i history, is the completion
of the initial task which American &Baha'i pioneers must perform in the
nine remaining States and Provinces as yet unassociated with the organic
structure of the Faith.
+P17
The period ahead is short, strenuous, fraught with mortal perils for
human society, yet pregnant with possibilities of unsurpassed triumphs for
the power of &Baha'u'llah's redemptive Cause. The occasion is propitious for
a display, by the American &Baha'i Community, in its corporate capacity, of
an effort which in its magnitude, character, and purpose must outshine its
past endeavors. Failure to exploit these present, these golden opportunities
would blast the hopes which the prosecution of the Plan has thus far
aroused, and would signify the loss of the rarest privilege ever conferred by
Providence upon the American &Baha'i Community. It is in view of the
criticalness of the situation that I was led to place at the disposal of any
pioneer willing to dedicate himself to the task of the present hour such
modest resources as would facilitate the discharge of so enviable a duty.
The &Baha'i World, increasingly subjected to the rigors of suppression,
in both the East and the West, watches with unconcealed astonishment, and
derives hope and comfort from the rapid unfoldment of the successive stages
of God's Plan for so blest a community. Its eyes are fixed upon this
community, eager to behold the manner in which its gallant members will break
down, one after another, the barriers that obstruct their progress towards a
divinely-appointed goal. On every daring adventurer in the service of the
Cause of &Baha'u'llah the Concourse on high shall descend, "each bearing
aloft a chalice of pure light." Every one of these adventurers God Himself
will sustain and inspire, and will "cause the pure waters of wisdom and
utterance to gush out and flow copiously from his heart." "The Kingdom
of God," writes &Abdu'l-Baha, "is possessed of limitless potency. Audacious
must be the army of life if the confirming aid of that Kingdom is to be
repeatedly vouchsafed unto it.... Vast is the arena, and the time ripe to
spur on the charger within it. Now is the time to reveal the force of one's
strength, the stoutness of one's heart and the might of one's soul."
Dearly-beloved friends! What better field than the vast virgin
territories, so near at hand, and waiting to receive, at this very hour, their
full share of the onrushing tide of &Baha'u'llah's redeeming grace? What
theatre more befitting than these long-neglected nine remaining states and
provinces in which the true heroism of the intrepid pioneers of His World Order
can be displayed? There is no time to lose. There is no room left for
vacillation. Multitudes hunger for the Bread of Life. The stage is set. The
firm and irrevocable Promise is given. God's own Plan has been set in motion.
It is gathering momentum with every passing day. The powers of heaven
and earth mysteriously assist in its execution. Such an opportunity is
irreplaceable. Let the doubter arise and himself verify the truth of such
assertions. To try, to persevere, is to insure ultimate and complete victory.
January 28, 1939
+P18
GOD'S CREATIVE PLAN
The task regarded as an essential preliminary to the crusade destined to
embrace the whole of Latin America is now in full swing and is being
rapidly carried out. A further step, designed to hasten the conclusion of
the final phase of the ornamentation of the Temple, has also been taken. As
the days roll by, as the perturbations of an imperiled civilization are more
alarmingly manifested, the potentialities of God's creative Plan
correspondingly unfold, and the valor and heroism of its intrepid supporters
are more widely and convincingly demonstrated. With every successful effort to
muster its young and scattered forces, to perfect its methods, to extend the
range of its operations, to deepen its spiritual life and to scale loftier
heights of individual heroism, there will, I cannot but feel confident, be
granted to this community a greater opportunity to prove its worth, and a
fuller measure of celestial strength to enable it to reenact, on the soil of
the United States and Canada and throughout the entire Western Hemisphere,
those stirring exploits that have shed such lustre on the apostolic age of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah. Though much has thus far been achieved, yet the
processes now set in motion through the evolution of the Plan are still far too
rudimentary to permit even a faint glimpse of the brilliancy of the epoch
in which &Abdu'l-Baha's own Plan must come to fruition. Not ours to
attempt, at the present moment, a survey of the distant scene, or to seek
to visualize its glories, or to dwell on the consequences of the eventual
attainment of an as yet far-off goal. Ours is the solemn, the inescapable
duty to labor faithfully and unremittingly to insure that no opportunity
is being missed, that no avenues are left unexplored, that might, however
indirectly, contribute to the furtherance of those tasks that claim so
insistently our immediate attention. That those into whose hands this
dynamic Plan has been entrusted are aware of the essential character of their
obligations and will discharge worthily their duties, no one, viewing the
range and quality of their achievements, can entertain the slightest doubt.
February 8, 1939
APPROACH OF FINAL ERUPTION
Fresh, ominous rumblings demonstrate the inevitability and foreshadow
the approach of the final eruption involving the dissolution of a lamentably
defective international order. The privileged community of American
believers forewarned, undismayed, spiritually equipped. Notwithstanding
the gravity of the times, they will pursue unswervingly the divinely-chartered
course, their attention undistracted, their objective unobscured, their
resolve unimpaired, their support undiminished, their loyalty unsullied. The
immediate obligation is to complete settlement of Delaware, Utah, Manitoba,
+P19
and Nova Scotia before termination of &Baha'i administrative year.
Responsibility solemn, pressing, unavoidable.
Cablegram March 24, 1939
GRATITUDE TO PIONEERS
Assure each pioneer immeasurable gratitude. Such vigorous response
at such perilous times to so vital a call opens brilliant epoch in Formative
Age of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. I am impelled to congratulate the Assembly
for its wise, efficient trusteeship.
Cablegram April 1, 1939
MY PLEA, MY SUPREME ENTREATY
I have in two recent, successive messages, cabled to your Assembly,
giving expression, as far as it lay in my power, to the feelings of
overpowering gratitude which the response of so many pioneers to the call of
teaching has evoked in my heart. I have moreover felt impelled to convey
my congratulations to the members of your Assembly who, through their
resource, unity and singlemindedness, have lent so needed and timely an
impetus to the mighty work associated with the second year of the Seven
Year Plan. There can be no doubt whatever that what the American believers,
no less than their elected National representatives, have accomplished,
the long and assiduous care of the former and the potent methods employed
by the latter, have witnessed to the uprising of a new spirit on which the
defamers of the Cause may well pause to reflect, and from which its lovers
cannot but derive deep joy and solace. I again wish to thank with all my
soul those whose acts have stirred the imagination of friend and foe alike.
In my desire not to omit anything that might help to spur on or reinforce
the community of the American believers as they move on to their
destiny, I feel it necessary to add a word of warning in connection with the
work that has been so splendidly begun lest it should be jeopardized or
frustrated. The initial phase of the teaching work operating under the
Seven Year Plan has at long last been concluded. They who have pushed it
forward have withstood the test gloriously. By their acts, whether as teachers
or administrators, they have written a glorious page in the struggle for the
laying of a continent-wide foundation for the Administrative Order of
their Faith. At this advanced stage in the fulfilment of the purpose to
which they have set their hand there can be no turning back, no halting,
no respite. To launch the bark of the Faith, to implant its banner, is not
enough. Support, ample, organized and unremitting, should be lent, designed
to direct the course of that work and to lay an unassailable foundation for
the fort destined to stand guard over that banner.
+P20
The National Spiritual Assembly, the National Teaching Committee,
the Regional and local teaching committees, no less than the itinerant
teachers, should utilize every possible means calculated to fan the zeal,
enrich the resources and insure the solidity and permanency of the work, of
those who, actuated by so laudable and shining a spirit of self-sacrifice, have
arisen to face the hazards and perils of so holy and historic an adventure.
Indeed every believer, however humble and inexperienced, should sense the
obligation to play his or her part in a mission that involves so very deeply
the destinies not only of the American &Baha'i community but of the nation
itself.
Whether through the frequency of their visits, the warmth of their
correspondence, the liberality of their support, the wisdom of their counsels,
the choice of the literature placed at the disposal of the pioneers, the
members of the community should, at this hour when the sands of a moribund
civilization are inexorably running out, and at a time when they are preparing
themselves to launch yet another stage in their teaching activities,
insure the security and provide for the steady expansion, of the work
initiated in those territories so recently set alight from the torch of an
inextinguishable Faith.
This is my plea, my supreme entreaty.
April 17, 1939
PENETRATION OF LATIN AMERICA
Message to 1939 Convention
Brilliant conclusion of second year in Seven Year Plan evokes universal
admiration of the &Baha'i world, deepens its spiritual consciousness and
mitigates the hardships of its increasingly harassed communities. Closing
phase of Temple ornamentation already entered. Initial stage of
Intercontinental Teaching Campaign successfully terminated. Firm anchorage
of the institutions of the Administrative Order permanently established in
every State and Province of North American continent. Mexico, lying in
the forefront of the southward marching army, recently enlisted. Pedro
Espinosa's auspicious attendance at the Convention is welcome evidence.
Settlement of the Central American republics is next step in progressive,
systematic penetration of Latin America. Upsurge of &Baha'u'llah's impelling
Spirit can not, will not, be stemmed nor impeded. Methodical advance along
the line traced by pen of &Abdu'l-Baha irresistible. Guatemala, Honduras,
Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Dominica and Haiti immediate
objectives. Though politically unsettled, religiously intolerant, socially
backward and climatically inhospitable, these unexplored territories hold
forth inestimable prizes for audacious adventures in the path of &Baha'i
service. Dearly-beloved Martha's unrivaled experience, indomitable faith
+P21
and indefatigable labors will soon reinforce powers released for contemplated
campaign. Task admittedly laborious, hour laden with fate, privilege
incomparable, precious divinely-promised aid unfailing, reward predestined
immeasurable. Appeal to all believers, white and Negro alike, to arise and
assume rightful responsibilities. Urge prolongation of sessions of Convention
to enable delegates to exercise their inalienable right to deliberate and
formulate recommendations designed to aid incoming National Assembly
resolutely to prosecute this momentous enterprise. Fervor of prayers
intensified.
Cablegram April 28, 1939
PROVE THEMSELVES ... WORTHY OF THAT PRICELESS HERITAGE
The concerted activities of the followers of &Baha'u'llah in the North
American continent assume, as they multiply and develop, a dual aspect,
and may be said to fall into two distinct categories, both equally vital and
complementary to each other. The one aims at the safeguarding and
consolidation of the work already achieved; the other is designed to enlarge
the range of its operation. The former depends chiefly for its success upon
the capacity, the experience and loyalty of wise, resourceful and judicious
administrators, who, impelled by the very nature of their task, will be
increasingly called upon to exercise the utmost care and vigilance in
protecting the interests of the Faith, in resolving its problems, in regulating
its life, in enriching its resources, and in preserving the pristine purity of
its precepts. The latter is essentially pioneer in nature, demanding first and
foremost those qualities of renunciation, tenacity, dauntlessness and
passionate fervor that can alone brave the dangers and sweep away the obstacles
with which an infant Faith, struggling against vested interests and face to
face with the entrenched forces of prejudice, of ignorance and fanaticism,
must needs contend. In both of these spheres of &Baha'i activity the community
of the American believers, it is becoming increasingly evident, is
evincing those characteristics which must be regarded as the essential
foundation for the success of their dual task.
As to those whose function is essentially of an administrative character
it can hardly be doubted that they are steadily and indefatigably perfecting
the structural machinery of their Faith, are multiplying its administrative
agencies, and are legalizing the status of the newly established institutions.
Slowly and patiently they are canalizing the spirit that at once directs,
energizes and safeguards its operation. They are exploiting its
potentialities, broadcasting its message, publicizing its literature, fostering
the aspirations of its youth, devising ways and means for the training of its
children, guarding the integrity of its teachings, and paving the way for the
ultimate
+P22
codification of its laws. Through all the resources at their disposal, they
are promoting the growth and consolidation of that pioneer movement for
which the entire machinery of their Administrative Order has been primarily
designed and erected. They are visibly and progressively contributing to
the enrichment of their unique community life, and are insuring, with
magnificent courage and characteristic promptitude, the completion of their
consecrated Edifice--the embodiment of their hopes and the supreme symbol
of their ideals.
As to those into whose valiant and trusted hands--and no believer,
however humble is to think himself debarred from joining their ranks--the
standards of a forward marching Faith have been entrusted, they too with
no less zest and thoroughness are pushing farther and farther its frontiers,
breaking new soil, establishing fresh outposts, winning more recruits, and
contributing to the greater diversification and more harmonious blending of
the elements comprised in the world-wide society of its followers.
The Edifice of this New World Order, which the &Bab has heralded,
which the mind of &Baha'u'llah has envisioned, and whose features &Abdu'l-Baha,
its Architect, has delineated, we, whatever our capacities, opportunities
or position, are now, at so precarious a period in the world's history,
summoned to found and erect. The community of the Most Great Name
in the Western Hemisphere is, through the nature of its corporate life and
the scope of its exertions, assuming, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a
preponderating share in the laying of such a foundation and the erection of
such a structure. The eyes of its sister communities are fixed upon it. Their
prayers ascend on its behalf. Their hands are outstretched to lend whatever
aid lies within their power. I, for my part, am determined to reinforce
the impulse that impels its members forward to meet their destiny. The
Founders of their Faith survey from the Kingdom on high the range of
their achievements, acclaim their progress, and are ever ready to speed their
eventual triumph.
Far be it from me to underrate the gigantic proportions of their task,
nor do I for one moment overlook the urgency and gravity of the times in
which they are laboring. Nor do I wish to minimize the hazards and trials
that surround or lie ahead of them. The grandeur of their task is indeed
commensurate with the mortal perils by which their generation is hemmed
in. As the dusk creeps over a steadily sinking society the radiant outlines
of their redemptive mission become sharper every day. The present world
unrest, symptom of a world-wide malady, their world religion has already
affirmed must needs culminate in that world catastrophe out of which the
consciousness of world citizenship will be born, a consciousness that can
alone provide an adequate basis for the organization of world unity, on
+P23
which a lasting world peace must necessarily depend, the peace itself
inaugurating in turn that world civilization which will mark the coming of age
of the entire human race.
Fortified by such reflections, the American believers, in whichever
section of the Western Hemisphere they find themselves laboring, whether at
home or abroad, and however dire and distressing the processes involved in the
disintegration of the structure of present-day civilization, will, I feel
convinced, prove themselves, through their lives and deeds, worthy of
that priceless heritage which it is their undoubted privilege to proclaim,
preserve and perpetuate.
May 22, 1939
OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF WORLD MISSION
Newly-launched Central American campaign marks official inauguration
of long-deferred World Mission constituting &Abdu'l-Baha's distinctive legacy
to the &Baha'i Community of North America. Chosen Community broadening
its basis, gaining in stature, deepening in consecration. Its vanguard
now entering arena monopolized by entrenched forces of Christendom's
mightiest ecclesiastical institutions. Laboring amidst race foreign in
language, custom, temperament embracing vast proportion of New World's ethnic
elements. American believers' isolated oversea teaching enterprises hitherto
tentative, intermittent, now at end. New epoch opening, demanding exertions
incomparably more strenuous, unflinchingly sustained, centrally directed,
systematically organized, efficiently conducted. Upon alacrity,
tenacity, fearlessness of present prosecutors of the unfolding mission depend
speedy and fullest revelation, in the First and Second Centuries, of the
potentialities of the birthright conferred upon American believers. Convey
to pioneers in North, Middle and South America my eagerness to maintain
with each direct, personal contact. Assure Teaching and Inter-America
Committees my delight at successive testimonies of believers' glowing spirit
reflected in Minutes, letters and reports recently received. Entreat every
section of community to labor unremittingly until every nation in Western
Hemisphere is illumined by rays and woven into fabric of &Baha'u'llah's
triumphant Administrative Order.
Cablegram May 28, 1939
FULFIL THE REQUIREMENTS
The readiness of your Assembly, as expressed in your recently cabled
message, to transfer the National &Baha'i Secretariat to the vicinity of the
Temple in Wilmette has evoked within me the deepest feelings of thankfulness
and joy. Your historic decision, so wise and timely, so surprising in
+P24
its suddenness, so far-reaching in its consequences, is one that I cannot but
heartily and unreservedly applaud. To each one of your brethren in the
Faith, throughout the United States and Canada, who are witnessing, from
day to day and at an ever-hastening speed, the approaching completion of
their National House of Worship, the great Mother Temple of the West,
your resolution to establish within its hallowed precincts and in the heart
of the North American continent the Administrative Seat of their beloved
Faith cannot but denote henceforward a closer association, a more constant
communion, and a higher degree of coordination between the two primary
agencies providentially ordained for the enrichment of their spiritual life
and for the conduct and regulation of their administrative affairs. To the
far-flung &Baha'i communities of East and West, most of which are being
increasingly proscribed and ill-treated, and none of which can claim to
have had a share of the dual blessings which a specially designed and
constructed House of Worship and a fully and efficiently functioning
Administrative Order invariably confer, the concentration in a single locality
of what will come to be regarded as the fountain-head of the community's
spiritual life and what is already recognized as the mainspring of the
administrative activities, signalizes the launching of yet another phase in the
slow and imperceptible emergence, in these declining times, of the model
&Baha'i community--a community divinely ordained, organically united,
clear-visioned, vibrant with life, and whose very purpose is regulated by the
twin directing principles of the worship of God and of service to one's
fellow-men.
The decision you have arrived at is an act that befittingly marks the
commencement of your allotted term of stewardship in service to the
Cause of &Baha'u'llah. Moreover, it significantly coincides with the
inauguration of that world mission of which the settlement of &Baha'i pioneers
in the virgin territories of the North American continent has been but a
prelude. That such a decision may speedily and without the slightest hitch
be carried into effect is the deepest longing of my heart. That those who
have boldly carried so weighty a resolution may without pause or respite
continue to labor and build up, as circumstances permit, around this
administrative nucleus such accessories as the machinery of a fast evolving
administrative order, functioning under the shadow of, and in such close
proximity to, the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, must demand, is the object of my
incessant and fervent prayer. That such a step, momentous as it is, may prove
the starting point for acts of still greater renown and richer possibilities
that will leave their distinct mark on the third year of the Seven Year Plan is
a hope which I, together with all those who are eagerly following its progress,
fondly and confidently cherish.
+P25
The American believers, while straining to accomplish befittingly this
particular task, must simultaneously brace themselves for another sublime
effort to discharge, ere the present year draws to a close, their manifold
responsibilities allotted to them under the Seven Year Plan. The placing
of yet another contract for the casting of the ornamentation of the First
Story of the Temple, the permanent settlement of the six remaining
Republics of Central America, and the extension of continual support both
material and moral, to those weaker States, Provinces and Republics
that have been recently incorporated in the body of the Faith, combine to
offer, at this hour when the fate of civilization trembles in the balance, the
boldest and gravest challenge that has ever faced the community of the
American believers both in the propagative and administrative spheres
of &Baha'i activity. In the field of pioneer teaching, and particularly in
connection with the opening of the Republics of Haiti, Salvador, Costa
Rica, Nicaragua, Dominica and Guatemala, the utmost encouragement should
at all times be vouchsafed by the elected representatives of the community
to those who, out of the abundance of their hearts, and in direct response
to the call of their Faith and the dictates of their conscience, have renounced
their comforts, fled their homes, and hazarded their fortunes for the sake
of bringing into operation the majestic Plan of &Abdu'l-Baha, while special
support should be extended to those who appear to be best qualified for the
strenuous labors which pioneering under such exacting circumstances
demands. Care should be exercised lest any hindrance, should, for any
reason, be placed in the way of those who have, whether young or old,
rich or poor, so spontaneously dedicated themselves to so urgent and holy
a mission.
Towards this newly-appointed enterprise a more definite reorientation
is needed. To its purposes a more complete dedication is demanded. In its
fortunes a more widespread concern is required. For its further consolidation
and speedy fulfilment a larger number and a greater variety of participants
are indispensable. For its success a more abundant flow of material
resources should be assured.
Let the privileged few, the ambassadors of the Message of &Baha'u'llah,
bear in mind His words as they go forth on their errands of service to His
Cause. "It behoveth whosoever willeth to journey for the sake of God, and
whose intention is to proclaim His Word and quicken the dead, to bathe
himself with the waters of detachment, and to adorn his temple with the
ornaments of resignation and submission. Let trust in God be his shield, and
reliance on God his provision, and the fear of God his raiment. Let patience
be his helper, and praise-worthy conduct his succorer, and goodly deeds his
army. Then will the concourse on high sustain him. Then will the denizens
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of the Kingdom of Names march forth with him, and the banners of Divine
guidance and inspiration be unfurled on his right hand and before him."
Faced with such a challenge, a community that has scaled thus far such
peaks of enduring achievements can neither falter nor recoil. Confident in
its destiny, reliant on its God-given power, fortified by the consciousness
of its past victories, galvanized into action at the sight of a slowly
disrupting civilization, it will--I can have no doubt--continue to fulfil
unflinchingly the immediate requirements of its task, assured that with every
step it takes and with each stage it traverses, a fresh revelation of Divine
light and strength will guide and propel it forward until it consummates, in
the fulness of time and in the plenitude of its power, the Plan inseparably
bound up with its shining destiny.
July 4, 1939
THE MOST FATEFUL HOUR
A triple call, clear-voiced, insistent and inescapable, summons to the
challenge all members of the American &Baha'i community, at this, the most
fateful hour in their history. The first is the voice, distant and piteous, of
those sister communities which now, alas, are fettered by the falling chains
of religious orthodoxy and isolated through the cruel barriers set up by a
rampant nationalism. The second is the plea, no less vehement and equally
urgent, of those peoples and nations of the New World, whose vast and
unexplored territories await to be warmed by the light and swept into the
orbit of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. The third, more universal and stirring
than either of the others, is the call of humanity itself crying out for
deliverance at a time when the tide of mounting evils has destroyed its
equilibrium and is now strangling its very life.
These imperative calls of &Baha'i duty the American believers can
immediately if only partially answer. Their present status, their
circumscribed resources, debar them, however great their eagerness, from
responding completely and decisively to the full implications of this threefold
obligation. They can, neither individually nor through their concerted
efforts, impose directly their will upon those into whose hands the immediate
destinies of their persecuted brethren are placed. Nor are they as yet capable
of launching a campaign of such magnitude as could capture the imagination and
arouse the conscience of mankind, and thereby insure the immediate and full
redress of those grievances from which their helpless coreligionists in both
the East and the West are suffering. They cannot moreover hope to wield at
the present time in the councils of nations an influence commensurate with
the stupendous claims advanced, or adequate to the greatness of the Cause
proclaimed, by the Author of their Faith. Nor can they assume a position
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or exercise such responsibilities as would enable them by their acts and
decisions to reverse the process which is urging so tragically the decline of
human society and its institutions.
And yet, though their influence be at the present hour indecisive and
their divinely-conferred authority unrecognized, the role they can play in
both alleviating the hardships that afflict their brethren and in attenuating
the ills that torment mankind is none the less considerable and far-reaching.
By the range and liberality of their contributions to mitigate the distress
of the bereaved, the exiled and the imprisoned; by the persistent, the wise
and judicious intervention of their elected representatives through the
authorities concerned; by a clear and convincing exposition, whenever
circumstances are propitious, of the issues involved; by a vigorous defence of
the rights and liberties denied; by an accurate and dignified presentation
of the events that have transpired; by every manner of encouragement which
their sympathies may suggest, or their means permit, or their consciences
dictate, to succor the outcast and the impoverished; and above all by their
tenacious adherence to, and wide proclamation of, those principles, laws,
ideals, and institutions which their disabled fellow-believers are unable to
affirm or publicly espouse; and lastly, by the energetic prosecution of those
tasks which their oppressed fellow-workers are forbidden to initiate or
conduct, the privileged community of the American &Baha'is can play a
conspicuous part in the great drama involving so large a company of their
unemancipated brethren in the Asiatic, European and African continents.
Their duties towards mankind in general are no less distinct and vital.
Their impotence to stem the tide of onrushing calamities, their seeming
helplessness in face of those cataclysmic forces that are to convulse human
society, do not in the least detract from the urgency of their unique
mission, nor exonerate them from those weighty responsibilities which they
alone can and must assume. Humanity, heedless and impenitent, is admittedly
hovering on the edge of an awful abyss, ready to precipitate itself
into that titanic struggle, that crucible whose chastening fires alone can and
will weld its antagonistic elements of race, class, religion and nation into
one coherent system, one world commonwealth. "The hour is approaching"
is &Baha'u'llah's own testimony, "when the most great convulsion will have
appeared... I swear by God! The promised day is come, the day when
tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet,
saying: `Taste ye, what your hands have wrought.'" Not ours to question
the almighty wisdom or fathom the inscrutable ways of Him in whose hands
the ultimate destiny of an unregenerate yet potentially glorious race must
lie. Ours rather is the duty to believe that the world-wide community of
the Most Great Name, and in particular, at the present time its vanguard in
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North America, however buffeted by the powerful currents of these troublous
times, and however keen their awareness of the inevitability of the final
eruption, can, if they will, rise to the level of their calling and discharge
their functions, both in the period which is witnessing the confusion and
breakdown of human institutions, and in the ensuing epoch during which the
shattered basis of a dismembered society is to be recast, and its forces
reshaped, re-directed and unified. With the age that is still unborn, with its
herculean tasks and unsuspected glories, we need not concern ourselves at
present. It is to the fierce struggle, the imperious duties, the distinctive
contributions which the present generation of &Baha'is are summoned to
undertake and render that I feel we should, at this hour, direct our immediate
and anxious attention. Though powerless to avert the impending contest the
followers of &Baha'u'llah can, by the spirit they evince and the efforts they
exert help to circumscribe its range, shorten its duration, allay its
hardships, proclaim its salutary consequences, and demonstrate its necessary
and vital role in the shaping of human destiny. Theirs is the duty to hold,
aloft and undimmed, the torch of Divine guidance, as the shades of night
descend upon, and ultimately envelop the entire human race. Theirs is the
function, amidst its tumults, perils and agonies, to witness to the vision, and
proclaim the approach, of that re-created society, that Christ-promised
Kingdom, that World Order whose generative impulse is the spirit of none other
than &Baha'u'llah Himself, whose dominion is the entire planet, whose watchword
is unity, whose animating power is the force of Justice, whose directive
purpose is the reign of righteousness and truth, and whose supreme glory
is the complete, the undisturbed and everlasting felicity of the whole of
human kind. By the sublimity and serenity of their faith, by the steadiness
and clarity of their vision, the incorruptibility of their character, the rigor
of their discipline, the sanctity of their morals, and the unique example of
their community life, they can and indeed must in a world polluted with
its incurable corruptions, paralyzed by its haunting fears, torn by its
devastating hatreds, and languishing under the weight of its appalling miseries
demonstrate the validity of their claim to be regarded as the sole repository
of that grace upon whose operation must depend the complete deliverance,
the fundamental reorganization and the supreme felicity of all mankind.
Though the obstacles confronting the followers of &Baha'u'llah in the
American continent in their efforts to completely emancipate their
&fellow-Baha'is on the one hand, and to speedily rehabilitate the fortunes of
their fellow-men on the other, be in the main unsurmountable, such impediments
cannot as yet be said to exist that can frustrate their efforts to fully
discharge the second duty now incumbent upon them in the inter-continental
sphere of &Baha'i teaching. The field, in all its vastness and fertility, is
wide
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open and near at hand. The harvest is ripe. The hour is over-due. The
signal has been given. The spiritual forces, mysteriously released, are
already operating with increasing momentum, unchallenged and unchecked.
Victory, speedy and unquestioned, is assured to whosoever will arise and
respond to this second, this urgent and vital call. In this field, as in no
other, the American believers can most easily evince the full force of their
latent energies, can exercise in their plentitude their conspicuous talents,
and can rise to the highest level of their God-given opportunities.
Fired by their zeal, their love for and faith in &Baha'u'llah; armed with
that Holy Charter, wherein &Abdu'l-Baha's mandate investing them with
their world mission is inscribed; piloted through the instrumentality of
those agencies which a divine, a smoothly functioning Administrative Order
has providentially placed at their disposal; disciplined and invigorated by
those immutable verities, spiritual principles and administrative regulations
that distinguish their religious beliefs, govern their individual conduct and
regulate their community life; aspiring to emulate the example of those
heroes and martyrs, the narrative of whose exploits they have admired and
pondered, it behooves all members of the American &Baha'i community to
gird themselves as never before to the task of befittingly playing their part
in the enactment of the opening scene of the First Act of that superb Drama
whose theme is no less than the spiritual conquest of both the Eastern and
Western Hemispheres. Their immediate task, under the Seven Year Plan,
the object of which is the establishment of a minimum of one &Baha'i center
in each of the Republics of Middle and South America, has now been gloriously
ushered in through the settlement of one pioneer in most of the Central
American Republics, and bids fair to be recognized by posterity as
the original impulse imparted to an enterprise that will go round the world.
That impulse must, as time goes by, communicate itself to the farthest
extremities of Latin America, and must be reinforced in every manner, by
as many of the American believers as possible. The broader the basis of
this campaign, the deeper its roots, the finer the flower into which it shall
eventually blossom. That its call may be heeded, that its implications may
be recognized and its potentialities progressively unfold, is my earnest
prayer, and the supreme longing of my heart.
July 28, 1939
IMPERILLED HUMANITY
Shades of night descending on imperilled humanity are inexorably
deepening. American believers, heirs of &Baha'u'llah's covenant, prosecutors
of &Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, are confronted by supreme opportunity to vindicate
indestructibility of their faith, inflexibility their resolution, their
incorruptibility,
+P30
sanctity for appointed task. Anxiously, passionately entreat
them, whatever obstacles the march of tragic events may create, however
distressing barriers predicted calamities raise between them and sister
communities and possibly Faith's World Center, to unwaveringly hold aloft torch
whose infant light heralds the birth of the effulgent World Order destined to
supplant disrupting civilization.
Cablegram August 30, 1939
IN GALAXY OF &BAHA'I IMMORTALS
Martha's unnumbered admirers throughout &Baha'i world lament with
me the earthly extinction of her heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her
elevation to rightful position in galaxy of &Baha'i immortals. Posterity will
establish her as foremost Hand which &Abdu'l-Baha's will has raised up in
first &Baha'i century. Present generation of her fellow-believers recognize
her to be the first, finest fruit which the Formative Age of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah has as yet produced. Advise hold befitting memorial gathering
in Temple to honor one whose acts shed imperishable lustre on American
&Baha'i community. Impelled share with National Assembly expenses of
erection of monument in symbolic spot,+F1 the meeting-place of East and
West, to both of which she unsparingly dedicated the full force of her
mighty energies.
Cablegram October 3, 1939
MANDATE CONFERRED BY &ABDU'L-BAHA
Weighty resolutions of San Francisco meeting call forth emotions too
deep for expression. Fondest hopes excelled. Indomitable courage and
overflowing energy of the firmly-welded, providentially-directed American
&Baha'i community impelling them outstrip pace and surpass the limits of
the theatre of action assigned to the third year of the Seven Year Plan.
Welcome particularly recent action designed expedite termination of
Divinely-founded Temple ordained to be the Ark destined to ride triumphant the
tidal wave of world-encircling calamities and offering sole refuge to
storm-tossed sufferers of sinful, steadily sinking civilization. Kindly renew
to every established and intending pioneer in enumerated Republics and
dependencies my ardent plea to resolve to refuse, despite the deepening
world confusion, to abandon their posts and surrender the responsibilities
solemnly assumed under the Mandate conferred by &Abdu'l-Baha.
Cablegram October 23, 1939
+F1 Honolulu
+P31
THE SPIRITUAL POTENCIES OF THAT CONSECRATED SPOT
The transfer of the sacred remains of the brother and mother of our
Lord and Master &Abdu'l-Baha to Mount Carmel and their final interment
within the hallowed precincts of the Shrine of the &Bab, and in the immediate
neighborhood of the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, constitute,
apart from their historic associations and the tender sentiments they arouse,
events of such capital institutional significance as only future happenings,
steadily and mysteriously unfolding at the world center of our Faith, can
adequately demonstrate.
The circumstances attending the consummation of this long, this profoundly
cherished hope were no less significant. The swiftness and suddenness
with which so delicate and weighty an undertaking was conducted; the
surmounting of various obstacles which the outbreak of war and its inevitable
repercussions necessarily engendered; the success of the long-drawn out
negotiations which the solution of certain preliminary problems imposed;
the execution of the plan in the face of the continued instability and
persistent dangers following the fierce riots that so long and so violently
rocked the Holy Land, and despite the smoldering fire of animosity kindled in
the breasts of ecclesiastics and Covenant-breakers alike--all combined to
demonstrate, afresh and with compelling power, the invincible might of the
Cause of &Baha'u'llah.
The Purest Branch, the martyred son, the companion, and amanuensis
of &Baha'u'llah, that pious and holy youth, who in the darkest days of
&Baha'u'llah's incarceration in the barracks of &Akka entreated, on his
death-bed, his Father to accept him as a ransom for those of His loved
ones who yearned for, but were unable to attain, His presence, and the
saintly mother of &Abdu'l-Baha, surnamed &Navvab by &Baha'u'llah, and the
first recipient of the honored and familiar title of "the Most Exalted Leaf,"
separated in death above half a century, and forced to suffer the humiliation
of an alien burial-ground, are now at long last reunited with the Greatest
Holy Leaf with whom they had so abundantly shared the tribulations of
one of the most distressing episodes of the Heroic Age of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah. Avenged, eternally safeguarded, befittingly glorified, they
repose embosomed in the heart of Carmel, hidden beneath its sacred soil,
interred in one single spot, lying beneath the shadow of the twin holy Tombs,
and facing across the bay, on an eminence of unequalled loveliness and beauty,
the silver-city of &Akka, the Point of Adoration of the entire &Baha'i world,
and the Door of Hope for all mankind. "Haste thee, O Carmel!" thus proclaims
the Pen of &Baha'u'llah, "for lo, the light of the countenance of God,
the Ruler of the Kingdom of Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath
been lifted upon thee." "Rejoice, for God hath in this Day established upon
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thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the
day-spring of the evidences of His Revelation."
The machinations of &Badi'ullah--the brother and lieutenant of the Focal
Center of sedition and Arch-Breaker of the Covenant of &Baha'u'llah, the
deceased &Muhammad-'Ali--who with uncommon temerity and exceptional
vigor addressed his written protest to the civil authorities, claiming the
right to oppose the projected transfer of the remains of the mother and
brother of &Abdu'l-Baha, have been utterly frustrated. So foolish a claim,
advanced by one who in the Will and Testament of &Abdu'l-Baha has been
denounced as an "alert and active worker of mischief," and whose life has
been marked by so many instances of extravagance, of betrayal and folly,
has been summarily rejected by the fairness and justice of the civil
authorities, in whose custody the notorious &Sadhij, the daughter of that same
&Badi'ullah, is still retained, as a direct result of her ceaseless
instigations to rebellion and terrorism, and whose acts constitute a clear and
double violation of the civil law of the land and of the spiritual ordinances
of &Baha'u'llah, in Whose Faith she professes to believe.
Unabashed by his appalling mistakes and blunders; undeterred by the
galling failure of his persistent efforts, in conjunction with his brother,
to establish, in the days following the passing of &Abdu'l-Baha, their alleged
right to the custody of the Most Holy Tomb; unrestrained by the memory
of the abortive attempt of &Muhammad-'Ali to retain the Mansion of
&Baha'u'llah as a private residence for himself and his family; unchastened
by the spiritual and material misery into which he and his kindred have
sunk; and impotent to perceive the contrast between that misery and the
consolidating strength and ever-enhancing prestige of the institutions
heralding the birth of the World Order of &Baha'u'llah at its international
center, he has, with characteristic insolence, dared to raise once again his
voice against the resistless march of events that are steadily accelerating
the expansion and establishment of the Faith in the Holy Land.
For it must be clearly understood, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized,
that the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with
those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies
of that consecrated Spot which, under the wings of the &Bab's overshadowing
Sepulchre, and in the vicinity of the future &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
which will be reared on its flank, is destined to evolve into the focal center
of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative
institutions, ordained by &Baha'u'llah and anticipated by &Abdu'l-Baha, and
which are to function in consonance with the principles that govern the
twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice.
Then, and then only, will this momentous prophecy which illuminates the
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concluding passages of the Tablet of Carmel be fulfilled: "Ere long will
God sail His Ark upon thee (Carmel), and will manifest the people of &Baha
who have been mentioned in the Book of Names."
To attempt to visualize, even in its barest outline, the glory that must
envelop these institutions, to essay even a tentative and partial description
of their character or the manner of their operation, or to trace however
inadequately the course of events leading to their rise and eventual
establishment is far beyond my own capacity and power. Suffice it to say that
at this troubled stage in world history the association of these three
incomparably precious souls who, next to the three Central Figures of our
Faith, tower in rank above the vast multitude of the heroes, Letters, martyrs,
hands, teachers and administrators of the Cause of &Baha'u'llah, in such a
potentially powerful spiritual and administrative Center, is in itself an event
which will release forces that are bound to hasten the emergence in a land
which, geographically, spiritually and administratively, constitutes the heart
of the entire planet, of some of the brightest gems of that World Order now
shaping in the womb of this travailing age.
For such as might undertake, in the days to come, the meritorious and
highly enviable pilgrimage to these blessed shrines, as well as for the benefit
of the less privileged who, aware of the greatness of their virtue and the
pre-eminence of their lineage, desire to commune with their spirits, and to
strive to acquire an added insight into the glory of their position, and to
follow in their footsteps, let these testimonies written by &Baha'u'llah and
&Abdu'l-Baha be their inspiration and guidance in their noble quest:
"At this very moment," &Baha'u'llah testifies, "My son is being washed
before My face, after Our having sacrificed him in the Most Great Prison.
Thereat have the dwellers of the &Abha Tabernacle wept with a great weeping,
and such as have suffered imprisonment with this Youth in the path of
God, the Lord of the promised Day, lamented. Under such conditions My
Pen hath not been prevented from remembering its Lord, the Lord of all
nations. It summoneth the people unto God, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful.
This is the day whereon he that was created by the light of &Baha
has suffered martyrdom, at a time when he lay imprisoned at the hands of
his enemies."
"Upon thee, O Branch of God!" He solemnly and most touchingly, in
that same Tablet, bestows upon him His benediction, "be the remembrance
of God and His praise, and the praise of all that dwell in the Realm of
Immortality, and of all the denizens of the Kingdom of Names. Happy art
thou in that thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament,
until Thou didst sacrifice thyself before the face of thy Lord, the
Almighty, the Unconstrained. Thou, in truth, hast been wronged, and to
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this testifieth the Beauty of Him, the Self-Subsisting. Thou didst, in the
first days of thy life, bear that which hath caused all things to groan, and
made every pillar to tremble. Happy is the one that remembereth thee, and
draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the Creator of the Morn."
"Glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God!" He, in a prayer, astoundingly
proclaims, "Thou seest me in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son bloodstained
before Thy face, O Thou in Whose hands is the kingdom of all
names. I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me,
that Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united."
"Blessed art thou," He, in another Tablet affirms, "and blessed he that
turneth unto thee, and visiteth thy grave, and draweth nigh, through thee,
unto God, the Lord of all that was and shall be.... I testify that thou
didst return in meekness unto thine abode. Great is thy blessedness and the
blessedness of them that hold fast unto the hem of thy outspread robe....
Thou art, verily, the trust of God and His treasure in this land. Erelong will
God reveal through thee that which He hath desired. He, verily, is the
Truth, the Knower of things unseen. When thou wast laid to rest in the
earth, the earth itself trembled in its longing to meet thee. Thus hath it
been decreed, and yet the people perceive not.... Were We to recount the
mysteries of thine ascension, they that are asleep would waken, and all
beings would be set ablaze with the fire of the remembrance of My Name,
the Mighty, the Loving."
Concerning the Most Exalted Leaf, the mother of &Abdu'l-Baha, &Baha'u'llah
has written: "The first Spirit through which all spirits were revealed,
and the first Light by which all lights shone forth, rest upon thee, O Most
Exalted Leaf, thou who hast been mentioned in the Crimson Book! Thou
art the one whom God created to arise and serve His own Self, and the
Manifestation of His Cause, and the Day-Spring of His Revelation, and the
Dawning-Place of His signs, and the Source of His commandments; and
Who so aided thee that thou didst turn with thy whole being unto Him, at
a time when His servants and handmaidens had turned away from His Face.
...Happy art thou, O My handmaiden, and My Leaf, and the one mentioned
in My Book, and inscribed by My Pen of Glory in My Scrolls and Tablets.
...Rejoice thou, at this moment, in the most exalted Station and the
All-highest Paradise, and the &Abha Horizon, inasmuch as He Who is the Lord
of Names hath remembered thee. We bear witness that thou didst attain
unto all good, and that God hath so exalted thee, that all honor and glory
circled around thee."
"O &Navvab!" He thus, in another Tablet, addresses her, "O Leaf that
hath sprung from My Tree, and been My companion! My glory be upon
thee, and My loving-kindness, and My mercy that hath surpassed all beings.
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We announce unto thee that which will gladden thine eye, and assure thy
soul, and rejoice thine heart. Verily, thy Lord is the Compassionate, the
All-Bountiful. God hath been and will be pleased with thee, and hath singled
thee out for His own Self, and chosen thee from among His handmaidens
to serve Him, and hath made thee the companion of His Person in the day-time
and in the night-season."
"Hear thou Me once again," He reassures her, "God is well-pleased with
thee, as a token of His grace and a sign of His mercy. He hath made thee
to be His companion in every one of His worlds, and hath nourished thee
with His meeting and presence, so long as His Name, and His Remembrance,
and His Kingdom, and His Empire shall endure. Happy is the handmaid
that hath mentioned thee, and sought thy good-pleasure, and humbled
herself before thee, and held fast unto the cord of thy love. Woe betide him
that denieth thy exalted station, and the things ordained for thee from
God, the Lord of all names, and him that hath turned away from thee, and
rejected thy station before God, the Lord of the mighty throne."
"O faithful ones!" &Baha'u'llah specifically enjoins, "Should ye visit the
resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the Glorious
Companion, stand ye and say: `Salutation and blessing and glory upon
thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear
witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His
Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the
hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a
stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him.
May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth
thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most
great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that
have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them,
through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the
Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all
worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him."
And, finally, &Abdu'l-Baha Himself in one of His remarkably significant
Tablets, has borne witness not only to the exalted station of one whose
"seed shall inherit the Gentiles," whose Husband is the Lord of Hosts, but
also to the sufferings endured by her who was His beloved mother. "As to
thy question concerning the 54th chapter of Isaiah," He writes, "This
chapter refers to the Most Exalted Leaf, the mother of &Abdu'l-Baha. As a
proof of this it is said: `For more are the children of the desolate, than the
children of the married wife.' Reflect upon this statement, and then upon
the following: `And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate
cities to be inhabited.' And truly the humiliation and reproach which
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she suffered in the path of God is a fact which no one can refute. For the
calamities and afflictions mentioned in the whole chapter are such afflictions
which she suffered in the path of God, all of which she endured with patience
and thanked God therefor and praised Him, because He had enabled her to
endure afflictions for the sake of &Baha. During all this time, the men and
women (Covenant-breakers) persecuted her in an incomparable manner,
while she was patient, God-fearing, calm, humble and contented through
the favor of her Lord and by the bounty of her Creator."
December 21, 1939
THE SEAL OF COMPLETE TRIUMPH
The association of the First &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West with the
hallowed memories of the Purest Branch and of &Abdu'l-Baha's mother,
recently re-interred under the shadow of the &Bab's holy Shrine, inaugurates
a new, and at long last the final phase of an enterprise which, thirty years
ago, was providentially launched on the very day the remains of the Forerunner
of our Faith were laid to rest by our beloved Master in the sepulchre
specifically erected for that purpose on Mount Carmel. The birth of this
holy enterprise, pregnant with such rich, such infinite possibilities,
synchronized with, and was consecrated through, this historic event which, as
&Abdu'l-Baha Himself has affirmed, constitutes the most signal act of the
triple mission He had been prompted to perform. The site of the Temple
itself was honored by the presence of Him Who, ever since this enterprise
was initiated, had, through his messages and Tablets, bestowed upon it His
special attention and care, and surrounded it with the marks of His unfailing
solicitude. Its foundation-stone was laid by His own loving hands, on
an occasion so moving that it has come to be regarded as one of the most
stirring episodes of His historic visit to the North American continent. Its
superstructure was raised as a direct consequence of the pent-up energies
which surged from the breasts of &Abdu'l-Baha's lovers at a time when
His sudden removal from their midst had plunged them into consternation,
bewilderment and sorrow. Its external ornamentation was initiated and
accelerated through the energizing influences which the rising and continually
consolidating institutions of a divinely established Administrative
Order had released in the midst of a community that had identified its vital
interests with that Temple's destiny. The measures devised to hasten its
completion were incorporated in a Plan which derives its inspiration from
those destiny-shaping Tablets wherein, in bold relief, stands outlined the
world mission entrusted by their Author to the American &Baha'i community.
And finally, the Fund, designed to receive and dispose of the resources
+P37
amassed for its prosecution, was linked with the memory and bore the name
of her whose ebbing life was brightened and cheered by those tidings that
unmistakably revealed to her the depth of devotion and the tenacity of
purpose which animate the American believers in the cause of their beloved
Temple. And now, while the &Baha'i world vibrates with emotion at the
news of the transfer of the precious remains of both the Purest Branch and
of &Abdu'l-Baha's mother to a spot which, watched over by the Twin Holy
Shrines and in the close neighborhood of the resting-place of the Greatest
Holy Leaf, is to become the focus of the administrative institutions of the
Faith at its world center, the mere act of linking the destiny of so
far-reaching an undertaking with so significant an event in the Formative
Period of our Faith will assuredly set the seal of complete triumph upon, and
enhance the spiritual potentialities of, a work so significantly started and
so magnificently executed by the followers of &Baha'u'llah in the North
American continent.
The Plan which your Assembly has suggested to raise the sum of fifty
thousand dollars by next April, which will enable you to place the necessary
contracts for the final completion of the entire First Story of the
&Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, meets with my unqualified approval. It was specially in
order to initiate and encourage the progress of such a plan that I felt
impelled to pledge the sum of one thousand pounds in the memory of these two
glorious souls who, apart from the Founders of our Faith and its Exemplar,
tower together with the Greatest Holy Leaf, above the rank and file of the
faithful.
The interval separating us from that date is admittedly short. The
explosive forces which lie dormant in the international field may, ere the
expiry of these fleeting months, break out in an eruption that may prove the
most fateful that mankind has experienced. It is within the power of the
organized body of the American believers to further demonstrate the
imperturbability of their faith, the serenity of their confidence and the
unyielding tenacity of their resolve.
We stand at the threshold of the decade within which the centenary of
the birth of our Faith is to be celebrated. Scarcely more than four years
stand between us and that glorious consummation. No community, no
individual, neither in the East nor in the West, however afflictive the
circumstances that now prevail, can afford to hesitate or falter. The few
years immediately ahead are endowed with potencies that we can but dimly
appreciate. Ours is the duty and privilege to utilize to the full the
opportunities which these fate-laden years offer us. The American &Baha'i
community, already responsible, over such a long period, for such heroic acts,
under such severe handicaps, cannot and will not hesitate or falter. The past
is a
+P38
witness of their splendid triumphs. The future will be no less a witness of
their final victory.
December 30, 1939
DUAL, VITALLY URGENT OBLIGATION
Urge Assembly focus attention at its forthcoming meeting upon the
dual, vitally urgent obligation: the conservation of the vigor and spiritual
health of the community and the intensification of effort aiming at realization
of recently approved Temple Plan. Sleepless vigilance to ward off
subtle attacks of enemies is first prerequisite to sound unfoldment of the
processes of the enterprise already operating. The fateful forties, pregnant
for weal and woe, are ushered in. The American believers enter them firmly
rooted in the fertile soil of the administrative order and bountifully
nourished by the vital sap of the animation of its institutions, spreading its
sheltering shadow to the farthest corners of the Western Hemisphere. Centenary
of the Birth of the Faith is approaching. Victories unsuspected are within
reach of community. The sooner they are achieved, the sharper the contrast
offered with distracting miseries afflicting a generation which the Faith
alone can and must eventually redeem.
Cablegram January 18, 1940
BELOVED HANDMAID
&Abdu'l-Baha's beloved handmaid, the distinguished disciple, May Maxwell,
is gathered into the glory of the &Abha Kingdom. Her earthly life, so rich,
eventful, incomparably blessed, is worthily ended. To sacred tie her signal
services had forged, the priceless honor of a martyr's crown is now added,
a double crown deservedly won. The Seven Year Plan, particularly the
South American campaign, derive fresh impetus from the example of her
glorious sacrifice. Southern outpost of Faith greatly enriched through
association with her historic resting place, destined to remain a poignant
reminder of the resistless march of the triumphant army of &Baha'u'llah.
Advise believers of both Americas to hold befitting memorial gathering.
Cablegram March 3, 1940
THEIR GOD-GIVEN TASK
The fourth year of the Seven Year Plan enters upon its course in
circumstances that are at once critical, challenging, and unprecedented in
their significance. The year that has passed has in so far as the rise and
establishment of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah in the Western Hemisphere is
concerned, been one of the most eventful since the Plan began to operate and
exercise its potent and beneficent influence. Both within and without the
Community
+P39
of the Most Great Name, the events which the last twelve months
has unfolded have in some mysterious way, whether directly or indirectly,
communicated their force to the Plan's progressive unfoldment, contributed
to the orientation of its policy and assisted in the consolidation of the
diversified undertakings, both primary and subsidiary that fall within its
orbit. Even the losses which the ranks of its stout-hearted upholders have
sustained will, when viewed in their proper perspective, be regarded as gains
of incalculable value, affecting both its immediate fortunes as well as its
ultimate destiny.
The successive international crises which agitated the opening months
of the year that has elapsed, culminating in the outbreak of the war in
Europe, far from drowning the enthusiasm or daunting the spirit of the
prosecutors of God's Plan, served by deflecting their gaze from a storm-tossed
continent, to focus their minds and resources on ministering to the
urgent needs of that hemisphere in which the first honors and the initial
successes of the heroes of the Formative Age of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah are
to be scored and won.
The sudden extinction of the earthly life of that star-servant of the
Cause of &Baha'u'llah, Martha Root, who, while on the last lap of her fourth
journey round the world--journeys that carried her to the humblest homes
as well as the palaces of royalty--was hurrying homeward to lend her promised
aid to her fellow-countrymen in their divinely-appointed task--such a
death, though it frustrated this cherished resolution of her indomitable
spirit, steeled the hearts of her bereaved lovers and admirers to carry on,
more energetically than ever, the work which she herself had initiated, as
far back as the year 1919, in every important city in the South American
continent.
The subtle and contemptible machinations by which the puny adversaries
of the Faith, jealous of its consolidating power and perturbed by the
compelling evidences of its conspicuous victories, have sought to challenge the
validity and misrepresent the character of the Administrative Order embedded
in its teachings have galvanized the swelling army of its defenders
to arise and arraign the usurpers of their sacred rights and to defend the
long-standing strongholds of the institutions of their Faith in their home
country.
And now as this year, so memorable in the annals of the Faith, was
drawing to a close, there befell the American &Baha'i community, through
the dramatic and sudden death of May Maxwell, yet another loss, which
viewed in retrospect will come to be regarded as a potent blessing conferred
upon the campaign now being so diligently conducted by its members. Laden
with the fruits garnered through well-nigh half a century of toilsome service
+P40
to the Cause she so greatly loved, heedless of the warnings of age and
ill-health, and afire with the longing to worthily demonstrate her gratitude in
her overwhelming awareness of the bounties of her Lord and Master, she
set her face towards the southern outpost of the Faith in the New World,
and laid down her life in such a spirit of consecration and self-sacrifice as
has truly merited the crown of martyrdom.
To Keith Ransom-Kehler, whose dust sleeps in far-off &Isfahan; to Martha
Root, fallen in her tracks on an island in the midmost heart of the ocean;
to May Maxwell, lying in solitary glory in the southern outpost of the
Western Hemisphere--to these three heroines of the Formative Age of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah, they who now labor so assiduously for its expansion
and establishment, owe a debt of gratitude which future generations will
not fail to adequately recognize.
I need not expatiate on other, though less prominent, events that have
contributed their share to the furtherance of the Seven Year Plan, or marked
its systematic development. The association of the Fund, specifically
inaugurated for its prosecution, with the hallowed memories of both the Mother
and Brother of &Abdu'l-Baha; the establishment of at least one pioneer in
each of the Republics of Central and South America; the ushering in of the
last phase of the external ornamentation of the Temple; the conjunction
of the institutions of the &Haziratu'l-Quds and the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in
the heart of the North American continent; the founding of yet another
institution designed as a training school for Inter-America teaching work;
the steady rise in the number of groups and Assemblies functioning within
the Administrative Framework of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah--these stand out
as further evidences of the animating Force that propels the Plan towards
its final consummation.
Varied and abundant as have been the past manifestations of this
driving, resistless Force, they cannot but pale before the brilliant victories
which its progressive and systematic development must achieve in the future.
The American believers, standing on the threshold of the fourth year
of the Seven Year Plan, pursue their God-given task with a radiance that
no earthly gloom can dim, and will continue to shoulder its ever-growing
duties and responsibilities with a vigor and loyalty that no earthly power
can either sap or diminish.
April 15, 1940
&BAHA'U'LLAH'S SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGNTY
Message to 1940 Convention
Overjoyed, elated that dynamic energy, invincible valor of American
believers impelled them far outstrip the goal fixed for third year of Seven
+P41
Year Plan. Temple ornamentation has been uninterruptedly pursued. The
theatre of operation of the teaching campaign is already embracing entire
Central America and every South American Republic excepting Paraguay
and Colombia. Number of countries within the orbit of the Faith is now
exceeding sixty. Intercontinental crusade, through path broken by Martha
Root and seal set by May Maxwell's death yielding destined fruit. Galvanized,
permanently safeguarded. Together with Keith they forged through sacrifice
a triple cord indissolubly knitting the community of North American
believers to cradle of Faith in every continent of Old World and Latin
America. Unperturbed by gathering gloom of tottering civilization without,
contemptuous of the assault of the perfidious enemies within, the executors
of &Abdu'l-Baha's mandate must and will strain every nerve in the course
of the ensuing year to multiply the number of enrolled pioneers to consolidate
work achieved in newly opened North American States and Provinces,
to insure prompt settlement of remaining Republics, to prosecute unremittingly
ornamentation of last unit of &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, to expedite formation
in isolated centers of nuclei capable of the establishment of local
Assemblies. Urgently plead, fervently pray that all ranks of the valiant
forerunners of &Baha'u'llah's Commonwealth may, ere expiry of allotted term,
bring fruition of mission to insure ascendancy of &Baha'u'llah's spiritual
sovereignty over entire Western Hemisphere.
Cablegram April 25, 1940
SECTION OF ORNAMENTATION
Section of Temple ornamentation has been placed in the precincts of the
&Bab's Shrine. Magnificent reminder of American believers' stupendous
efforts.
Cablegram April 27, 1940.
CONTINUOUS CONSECRATION
To these words, written on my behalf, and in answer to your particular
questions relating to the administrative issues that confront you in these
days, I wish to add my own tribute to the magnificent manner in which
you face the problems, both spiritual and administrative, which the expansion
of the Faith is continually raising, and to the way in which you resolve
them, explain their nature, and derive fresh strength from your experience
of any one of them. The text of the annual reports demonstrates this fact
and establishes for all time the high standard according to which the
administrative machinery of the Faith is functioning, developing and
consolidating itself under your able and energetic direction. As the
administrative processes expand, as their operation steadily improves, as their
necessity is more fully and strikingly demonstrated, and their beneficent
influence correspondingly
+P42
grows more apparent and evident, so will the blessings, the strength
and guidance bestowed by Him Who animates and directs these processes
be more abundantly vouchsafed to those who have been called upon to
utilize them, in this age, for the execution of God's Purpose and for the
ultimate redemption of a sore-stricken travailing humanity. Many will be
the setbacks, the shocks and the disturbances, which the commotions of a
convulsive age must produce; yet no force, however violent and world-wide
in its range and catastrophic in its immediate consequences, can either halt
these processes or deflect their appointed course. How great, then, the
privilege, and how staggering the responsibility, of those who are destined to
guard over them and to bring them eventually to full fruition. Nothing
short of utter, of continuous consecration to His Will and Purpose can
enable them to fulfil their high destiny.
May 15, 1940
EMERGENCE OF SPIRITUAL WORLD ORDER
The stupendous struggle now convulsing the major part of the European
continent is progressively revealing the ominous features, and increasingly
assuming the proportions, of the titanic upheaval foreshadowed seventy
years ago by the prophetic Pen of &Baha'u'llah. The disruptive forces
associated with humanity's world-shaking ordeal are closely interrelated with
the constructive potentialities inherent in the American believers'
Divinely-ordained Plan. Both are directly hastening the emergence of the
spiritual World Order stirring in the womb of a travailing age. I entreat the
American &Baha'i Community, whatever the immediate or distant repercussions of
the present turmoil on their own continent, however violent its impact upon
the World Center of their Faith, to pledge themselves anew, before the
Throne of &Baha'u'llah, to discharge, with unswerving aim, unfailing courage,
invincible vigor, exemplary fidelity and ever-deepening consecration,
the dual responsibility solemnly undertaken under the Seven Year Plan. I
implore them to accelerate their efforts, increase their vigilance, deepen
their unity, multiply their heroic feats, maintain their distant outposts in
the teaching field of Latin America and expedite the termination of the
last stage in the ornamentation of the Temple. I am praying continually
with redoubled fervor.
Cablegram June 13, 1940
SUPREMELY CHALLENGING HOUR
The long-predicted world-encircling conflagration, essential pre-requisite
to world unification, is inexorably moving to its appointed climax. Its fires,
first lit in the Far East, subsequently ravaging Europe and enveloping
+P43
Africa, now threaten devastation both in Near East and Far West, respectively
enshrining the World Center and the chief remaining Citadel of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah. The Divinely-appointed Plan must and will likewise
pursue undeflected its predestined course. Time is pressing. The settlement
of the two remaining Latin Republics, the sounder consolidation through
formation of firmly-knit groups in newly-opened territories, the provision
of adequate means for the ornamentation of last six faces of first story of
Temple, stand out as vital requirements of approaching supremely challenging
hour. My eyes and heart are anxiously, longingly turned to the New
World to witness the evidences of a new, still more heroic phase of enterprise
confidently entrusted to vigilant care of the American believers by the
ever-watchful, powerfully-sustaining Master. I refuse to believe that a
community so richly endowed, so greatly envied, so repeatedly honored, will
suffer the slightest relaxation of its resolution to jeopardize the spiritual
prizes painstakingly and deservedly won throughout the States and Provinces
of the Republics of the Western Hemisphere.
Cablegram July 21, 1940
CHAOS AND REDEMPTION
Present world chaos, exhibiting the impetuosity, follies, rebelliousness
characteristic of humanity's adolescent stage of development, and harbinger
of the long-promised Golden Age of the maturity of the human race, is
relentlessly spreading and distressingly intensified. The alternating
victories and reverses, heralding parallel transition of proscribed Cause of
&Baha'u'llah struggling towards emancipation, world recognition and spiritual
universal dominion, are simultaneously multiplying. The recrudescence of the
chronic persecution afflicting the cradle of the Faith, the grave danger
threatening the appropriated Temple and disbanded centers in Turkistan
and Caucasus, the repressive measures successively choking the life and
paralyzing the action of both the long-standing and the newly-fledged
communities of Central, Western and South-Eastern Europe, the intermittent
outbursts of religious fanaticism directed against the North African
Assemblies, and the aggravation of the situation at the world Spiritual and
Administrative Center, contrast with, and are outweighed by, the surging
spirit, the startling expansion, the sweeping conquests, the superb
consolidation of the swiftly-accumulating resources of the one remaining
community singled out for the proclamation of the Administrative Order
throughout the length and breadth of the Western Hemisphere. I appeal to the
New World champions of the New World Order of &Baha'u'llah to stand fast at
this tragic hour in the fortunes of mankind and the challenging state of the
evolution of the Faith. I beg them to close their ranks jointly, severally and
vow
+P44
themselves to incomparably sublime task whose operation must hasten the
ascendancy of the beloved Cause and the spiritual redemption of a reconstructed
mankind.
Cablegram October 29, 1940
TORCHBEARER OF WORLD CIVILIZATION
My heart is thrilled with delight as I witness, in so many fields, and in
such distant outposts, and despite such formidable difficulties, restrictions,
obstacles and dangers, so many evidences of the solidarity, the valor, and
the achievements of the American &Baha'i community. As the end of the
First Century of the &Baha'i Era approaches, as the shadows descending upon
and enveloping mankind steadily and remorselessly deepen, this community,
which can almost be regarded as the solitary champion of the Faith in the
Western World, is increasingly evincing and demonstrating its capacity, its
worth, and ability as the torchbearer of the New, the World Civilization
which is destined to supplant in the fulness of time the present one. And
more particularly in the virgin and far-flung territories of Latin America,
it has in recent months, abundantly given visible evidence of its merits and
competence to shoulder the immense responsibilities which the carrying of
the sacred Fire to all the Republics of the Western Hemisphere must necessarily
entail.
Through these initial steps, which, in pursuance of the Plan conceived
by &Abdu'l-Baha, this community has taken, through the settlement in each
of these sovereign states of the New World of American &Baha'i pioneers,
through the formation of &Baha'i groups and the establishment of two
Assemblies in Buenos Aires and Bahia, the American National Assembly, as
well as its Inter-America Committee, and all subsidiary agencies, no less
than the individual members of the North American &Baha'i community who
have sacrificed and are still sacrificing so much in their support of this
Divine and momentous Plan, have earned the unqualified admiration and the
undying gratitude of sister Assemblies and fellow-workers throughout the
&Baha'i World.
Their work, however, is only beginning. The dispatch of pioneers, the
provision of adequate means for their support, their settlement and initiation
of &Baha'i activities in these far-off lands, however strenuous and
meritorious, are insufficient if the Plan is to evolve harmoniously and yield
promptly its destined fruit. The extension by the Parent Assembly--the
immediate source from which this vast system with all its ramifications is now
proceeding--of the necessary support, guidance, recognition and material
assistance to enable these newly-fledged groups and Assemblies to function in
strict accordance with both the spiritual and administrative principles of the
+P45
Faith of &Baha'u'llah, would seem as essential and urgent as the preliminary
task already achieved. To nurse these tender plants of the Vineyard of God,
to foster their growth, to direct their development, to accord them the
necessary recognition, to help resolve their problems, to familiarize them
with gentleness, patience and fidelity with the processes of the Administrative
Order and thus enable them to assume independently the conduct of
future local and national &Baha'i activities, would bring the plan to swift and
full fruition and would add fresh laurels to the crown of immortal glory
already won by a community that holds in these days of dark and dire
calamities, valiantly and almost alone, the Fort of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
Fortified by these reflections, let them gird up their loins for still mightier
exertions and more brilliant victories.
December 3, 1940
THIS VETERAN WARRIOR
I share your sorrow in the loss, and participate in your rejoicings for
the triumph of beloved Father Dunn. The magnificent career of this
veteran warrior of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah reflects the purest luster of the
world historic mission conferred upon American community by &Abdu'l-Baha.
To the three heroines whose dust reposes in the heart of Persia, in
the Pacific Islands and southern extremity of the American continent, a
fourth witness in far-off Australasia is now added, attesting the first vital
sparks of far-flung spiritual dominion American believers have been
commissioned to establish. I am moved to congratulate them for the resplendent
successes of the Plan destined to encircle the entire globe. Advise hold
National Memorial Gathering in &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar befitting the rank of
Australia's spiritual conqueror.
Cablegram February 21, 1941+F1
THE ANGER OF GOD AND HIS CORRECTION
The internecine struggle, now engulfing the generality of mankind, is
increasingly assuming, in its range and ferocity, the proportions of the
titanic upheaval foreshadowed as far back as seventy years ago by
&Baha'u'llah. It can be viewed in no other light except as a direct
interposition by Him Who is the Ordainer of the Universe, the Judge of all men
and the Deliverer of the nations. It is the rod of both the anger of God and
of His correction. The fierceness of its devastating power chastens the
children of men for their refusal to acclaim the century-old Message of their
promised, their Heaven-sent Redeemer. The fury of its flames, on the other
hand, purges away the dross, and welds the limbs of humanity into one single
organism, indivisible, purified, God-conscious and divinely directed.
+F1 The next message, dated April 23, 1941, will be found on page 110.
+P46
Its immediate cause can be traced to the forces engendered by the last
war of which it may be truly regarded as the direct continuation. Its first
sparks were kindled on the eastern shores of the Asiatic continent, enveloping
two sister races of the world in a conflagration which no force seems
able to either quench or circumscribe. This cataclysmic process was
accelerated by the outbreak of a fierce conflict in the heart of Europe,
fanning into flame age-long animosities and unchaining a series of calamities
as swift as they were appalling. As the turmoil gathered momentum, it swept
remorselessly into its vortex the most powerful nations of the European
continent--the chief protagonists of that highly-vaunted yet lamentably
defective civilization. The mounting tide of its havoc and devastation soon
overspread the northernmost regions of that afflicted continent, subsequently
ravaged the shores of the Mediterranean, and invaded the African continent
as far as Ethiopia and the surrounding territories. The Balkan countries,
as predicted by &Abdu'l-Baha, were soon to sustain the impact of this tragic
ordeal, communicating in their turn the commotions to which they had
been subjected to both the Near and Middle East, wherein are enshrined the
heart of the Faith itself, its Cradle, its chief center of Pilgrimage, and its
most sacred and historic sites.
Its menace is overleaping the limits of the Old World and is plunging
into consternation the Great Republic of the West, as well as the peoples
of Central and South America. The New World as well as the Old is experiencing
the terrific impact of this disruptive force. Even the peoples
of the Antipodes are trembling before the approaching tempest that threatens
to burst on their heads.
The races of the world, Nordic, Slavonic, Mongolian, Arab and African,
are alike subjected to its consuming violence. The world's religious systems
are no less affected by the universal paralysis which is creeping over the
minds and souls of men. The persecution of world Jewry, the rapid
deterioration of Christian institutions, the intestine division and disorders
of &Islam, are but manifestations of the fear and trembling that has seized
humanity in its hour of unprecedented turmoil and peril. On the high seas, in
the air, on land, in the forefront of battle, in the palaces of kings and the
cottages of peasants, in the most hallowed sanctuaries, whether secular or
religious, the evidences of God's retributive act and mysterious discipline
are manifest. Its heavy toll is steadily mounting--a holocaust sparing neither
prince nor peasant, neither man nor woman, neither young nor old.
The Faith of &Baha'u'llah--that priceless gem of Divine Revelation
enshrining the Spirit of God and incarnating His Purpose for mankind in
this age--can neither aspire nor expect to escape unhurt amid the hurricane
of human disasters that blows around it. By most men unnoticed, scorned
+P47
and ridiculed by some, feared and challenged by others, this world redemptive
Faith, for whose precious sake the world is undergoing such agonies, finds
its virgin strength assailed, and its infant institutions hemmed in, by the
dark forces which a godless civilization has unloosed over the face of the
planet. In the Old World, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa, it is being
buffeted about, ostracized, arraigned and repressed. In certain countries its
community life is being extinguished, in others a ban is severely imposed
on its propagation, in still others its members are denied all intercourse with
its World Center. Dangers, grave and unsuspected, confront its cradle
and surround its very heart.
Not so, however, with the countries of the Western Hemisphere. The
call of &Baha'u'llah summons, at this challenging hour, the peoples of the
New World, and its leaders to redress the balance of the old. "O Rulers of
America," He thus addresses the Chief Magistrates of that continent, "and
the Presidents of the Republics therein.... Adorn the temple of your dominion
with the ornament of Justice and of the fear of God, and its head
with the crown of the remembrance of your Lord, the Maker of the
heavens." The Great Republic of the West, an object of special solicitude
throughout the ministry of the Center of the Covenant, whose soil has been
hallowed by His footsteps, and the foundation of whose edifice--the Mother
Temple of the West--has been consecrated by His hand, has been singled
out through the operation of His Will, and been invested by His Pen with
an unique, an inescapable, a weighty and most sacred responsibility. The
Mission entrusted to the community of the North American believers in
the darkest days of the last war, is, after a period of incubation of well nigh
twenty years, and through the instrumentality of the administrative agencies
erected after &Abdu'l-Baha's passing, efflorescing under our very eyes.
Already, since the inception of the Seven Year Plan, this community can
well claim to have attained, through its deeds, a stature that dwarfs its
sister communities, and can glory in a parentage that embraces every Republic
of Latin America. The first &Mashriqu'l Adhkar of the West, its beauteous
and noble handiwork, is virtually completed. A nucleus for a future
flourishing local community is already formed in every state and province in
North America. The administrative structure, following the pattern of its
prototype in the U.S.A. is, through the agency of that same Plan, raising
its triumphant head in the Central and South American Republics. The
Plan itself, propelled by the agencies released by those immortal Tablets
which constitute its charter, bids fair, in the fifth year of its operation, to
exceed the highest expectations of those who have so courageously launched
it. Its consummation, coinciding with the termination of the first century
of the &Baha'i Era, will mark the opening of yet another phase in a series
+P48
of crusades which must carry, in the course of the succeeding century, the
privileged recipients of those epoch-making Tablets beyond the Western
Hemisphere to the uttermost ends of the earth, to implant the banner, and
lay an unassailable basis for the administrative structure of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah.
The quality and magnitude of the work already achieved by these
stalwart champions of God's New World Order are inexpressibly exhilarating
and infinitely meritorious. The immensity of the task still to be performed
staggers our fancy and inflames our imagination. The potentialities with
which these tasks are endowed elude our shrewdest calculations. The promise
they enshrine is too dazzling to contemplate. What else can we do but
bow our heads in thanksgiving and reverence, steel our hearts in preparation
for the strenuous days ahead, and intensify a hundredfold our resolution
to carry on the task to which our hands are set at present.
May 25, 1941
FATE-LADEN WORLD ORDEAL
The fate-laden world ordeal is moving in steady, pre-ordained crescendo.
The blaze of a seemingly uncontrollable fire is leaping, ravaging
last remaining great Power on European continent. Shadows of God's
retributive act are fast gathering. As the arena of world convulsing contest
broadens; as wounds it inflicts deepen; as issues it raises aggravate and
multiply, so will the operation of the spiritual forces, destined to cast the
burden of a travailing age, be accelerated. As the old world sinks beneath
the weight of a crumbling old order, so must new world exponents of
&Baha'u'llah's nascent, integrating World Order climb loftier summits of
their sublime calling. I urgently, insistently plead that all American
believers, particularly the National Teaching and Inter-America Committees,
above all the National elected representatives, arm their souls, labor more
resolutely, cooperate more closely, scatter more widely, sacrifice more
abundantly, to insure, during remaining years of Seven Year Plan, the
brilliant discharge of the one remaining obligation of their dual task, whose
consummation must signalize the termination and seal the triumph of
First &Baha'i Century.
Cablegram July 4, 1941
ELIZABETH GREENLEAF
Share deep grief of bereaved community at passing of Elizabeth Greenleaf,
beloved handmaid of &Baha'u'llah. Her radiant spirit, staunch loyalty,
noble character, effective teaching method were distinguishing features of
her consecrated life. Praying abundant blessings in life beyond.
Cablegram August 7, 1941
+P49
UNCONQUERABLE POWER
As I survey the activities and accomplishments of the American believers
in recent months, and recall their reaction to the urgent call for service,
embodied in the Seven Year Plan, I feel overwhelmed by a three-fold sense
of gratitude and admiration which I feel prompted to place on record, but
which I cannot adequately express. Future generations can alone appraise
correctly the value of their present services, and the Beloved, whose mandate
they are so valiantly obeying, can alone befittingly reward them for
the manner in which they are discharging their duties.
The virtual completion of a thirty year old enterprise, which was
initiated in His days and blessed by His Hand, is the first and foremost
accomplishment that must shed imperishable luster not only on the
administrative annals of the Formative Age of the Faith, but on the entire
record of the signal achievements performed in the course of the First Century
of the &Baha'i Era. The steady expansion and consolidation of the world
mission, entrusted by that same Master, to their hands and set in operation
after His passing, constitutes the second object of my undying gratitude to a
community that has abundantly demonstrated its worthiness to shoulder the
superhuman tasks with which it has been entrusted. The spirit with which
that same community has faced and resisted the onslaught of the enemies
of the Faith who, for various reasons and with ever-increasing subtlety and
malice, have persistently striven to disrupt the administrative machinery of
an Order, foreshadowed by the &Bab, enunciated by &Baha'u'llah, and established
by &Abdu'l-Baha, is yet another testimony to the unrivalled merits and the
eminent position attained by its privileged members since the ascension of
the Center of the Covenant.
The extinction of the influence precariously exerted by some of these
enemies, the decline that has set in in the fortunes of others, the sincere
repentance expressed by still others, and their subsequent reinstatement and
effectual participation in the teaching and administrative activities of the
Faith, constitute in themselves sufficient evidence of the unconquerable
power and invincible spirit which animates those who stand identified with
and loyally carry out the provisions and injunctions of the Will and Testament
of &Abdu'l-Baha.
And now more particularly concerning the prime mover of this latest
agitation, which, whatever its immediate consequences, will sooner or later
come to be regarded as merely one more of those ugly and abortive attempts
designed to undermine the foundation, and obscure the purpose, of the
Administrative Order of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. Obscure in his origin,
ambitious of leadership, untaught by the lesson of such as have erred before
him, odious in the hopes he nurses, contemptible in the methods he pursues,
+P50
shameless in his deliberate distortions of truths he has long since ceased to
believe in, ludicrous in his present isolation and helplessness, wounded and
exasperated by the downfall which his own folly has precipitated, he, the
latest protagonist of a spurious cause, cannot but in the end be subjected,
as remorselessly as his infamous predecessors, to the fate which they
invariably have suffered.
Generated by the propelling and purifying forces of a mysterious Faith,
born of delusion or malice, winning a fleeting notoriety derived from the
precarious advantages of wealth, fame or fortune, these movements sponsored
by deluded, self-seeking adventurers find themselves, sooner or later,
enmeshed in the machinations of their authors, are buried in shame, and
sink eventually into complete oblivion.
The schism which their foolish leaders had contrived so sedulously to
produce within the Faith, will soon, to their utter amazement, come to be
regarded as a process of purification, a cleansing agency, which, far from
decimating the ranks of its followers, reinforces its indestructible unity, and
proclaims anew to a world, skeptical or indifferent, the cohesive strength of
the institutions of that Faith, the incorruptibility of its purposes and
principles, and the recuperative powers inherent in its community life.
Were anyone to imagine or expect that a Cause, comprising within its
orbit so vast a portion of the globe, so turbulent in its history, so
challenging in its claims, so diversified in the elements it has assimilated
into its administrative structure, should, at all times, be immune to any
divergence of opinion, or any defection on the part of its multitudinous
followers, it would be sheer delusion, wholly unreasonable and unwarranted,
even in the face of the unprecedented evidence of the miraculous power which
its rise and progress have so powerfully exhibited. That such a secession,
however, whether effected by those who apostatize their faith or preach
heretical doctrines, should have failed, after the lapse of a century, to split
in twain the entire body of the adherents of the Faith, or to create a grave, a
permanent and irremediable breach in its organic structure, is a fact too
eloquent for even a casual observer of the internal processes of its
administrative order to either deny or ignore.
Therein, every loyal and intelligent upholder of &Baha'u'llah's
incomparable Covenant--a Covenant designed by Him as the sole refuge against
schism, disruption and anarchy--will readily recognize the hall-mark of
His Faith, and will acclaim it as the supreme gift conferred by Him Who
is the Lord of Revelation upon the present and future generations who are
destined, in this greatest of all Dispensations, to flock, from every creed and
religion, to the banner, and espouse the Cause, of His Most Great Name.
Dear friends! Manifold, various, and at times extremely perilous, have
+P51
been the tragic crises which the blind hatred, the unfounded presumption,
the incredible folly, the abject perfidy, the vaulting ambition, of the enemy
have intermittently engendered within the pale of the Faith. From some of
its most powerful and renowned votaries, at the hands of its once trusted
and ablest propagators, champions, and administrators, from the ranks of
its most revered and highly-placed trustees whether as companions, amanuenses
or appointed lieutenants of the Herald of the Faith, of its Author,
and of the Center of His Covenant, from even those who were numbered
among the kindred of the Manifestation, not excluding the brother, the
sons and daughters of &Baha'u'llah, and the nominee of the &Bab Himself,
a Faith, of such tender age, and enshrining so priceless a promise, has
sustained blows as dire and treacherous as any recorded in the world's
religious history.
From the record of its tumultuous history, almost every page of which
portrays a fresh crisis, is laden with the description of a new calamity,
recounts the tale of a base betrayal, and is stained with the account of
unspeakable atrocities, there emerges, clear and incontrovertible, the supreme
truth that with every fresh outbreak of hostility to the Faith, whether
from within or from without, a corresponding measure of outpouring grace,
sustaining its defenders and confounding its adversaries, has been
providentially released, communicating a fresh impulse to the onward march of
the Faith, while this impetus, in its turn, would through its manifestations,
provoke fresh hostility in quarters heretofore unaware of its challenging
implications--this increased hostility being accompanied by a still more
arresting revelation of Divine Power and a more abundant effusion of celestial
grace, which, by enabling the upholders of that Faith to register still
more brilliant victories, would thereby generate issues of still more vital
import and raise up still more formidable enemies against a Cause that
cannot but, in the end, resolve those issues and crush the resistance of those
enemies, through a still more glorious unfoldment of its inherent power.
The resistless march of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, viewed in this light,
and propelled by the stimulating influences which the unwisdom of its
enemies and the force latent within itself, both engender, resolves itself into
a series of rhythmic pulsations, precipitated, on the one hand, through the
explosive outbursts of its foes, and the vibrations of Divine Power, on the
other, which speed it, with ever-increasing momentum, along that predestined
course traced for it by the Hand of the Almighty.
As opposition to the Faith, from whatever source it may spring, whatever
form it may assume, however violent its outbursts, is admittedly the
motive-power that galvanizes on the one hand, the souls of its valiant
defenders, and taps for them, on the other, fresh springs of that Divine and
+P52
inexhaustible Energy, we who are called upon to represent, defend and
promote its interests, should, far from regarding any manifestation of
hostility as an evidence of the weakening of the pillars of the Faith, acclaim
it as both a God-sent gift and a God-sent opportunity which, if we remain
undaunted, we can utilize for the furtherance of His Faith and the routing
and complete elimination of its adversaries.
The Heroic Age of the Faith, born in anguish, nursed in adversity, and
terminating in trials as woeful as those that greeted its birth, has been
succeeded by that Formative Period which is to witness the gradual
crystallization of those creative energies which the Faith has released, and
the consequent emergence of that World Order for which those forces were
made to operate.
Fierce and relentless will be the opposition which this crystallization
and emergence must provoke. The alarm it must and will awaken, the envy it
will certainly arouse, the misrepresentations to which it will remorselessly be
subjected, the setbacks it must, sooner or later, sustain, the commotions to
which it must eventually give rise, the fruits it must in the end garner, the
blessings it must inevitably bestow and the glorious, the Golden Age, it
must irresistibly usher in, are just beginning to be faintly perceived, and
will, as the old order crumbles beneath the weight of so stupendous a
Revelation, become increasingly apparent and arresting.
Not ours, dear friends, to attempt to survey the distant scene; ours
rather the duty to face the trials of the present hour, to ponder its meaning,
to discharge its obligations, to meet its challenge and utilize the opportunity
it offers to the fullest extent of our ability and power.
August 12, 1941
THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION
Heart thrilled with pride at message announcing the approaching completion
of the ornamentation of seven faces of &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, proclaiming
an intensification of North American teaching campaign, and revealing
the adamantine resolution of the Temple builders and stalwart crusaders,
in face of the perfidy, ingratitude and opposition of the enemies both within
and without the Holy Faith. As the fury and destructiveness of the tremendous
world ordeal attains its most intensive pitch, so the Mission conferred
twenty years ago by &Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will on the worldwide,
indivisible and incorruptible body of His followers unfolds its fullest
potentialities. Securely abiding and confidently battling within the
impregnable structure which that Will has divinely established, the dwellers in
the ark of the divine Covenant the world over watch with awe, pride and delight
+P53
the evidences of the mounting momentum of the eternal process of integration
and disintegration hurrying the Faith along its predestined course. The
royal adversary, personally responsible for the recrudescence of persecution
closing all &Baha'i schools in &Baha'u'llah's native land, has been humbled to
the dust. The sufferings endured by the builders of the first
&Mashriqu'l-Adhkar are being avenged. The cornerstone of the National
Administrative Headquarters of the Egyptian &Baha'i community has been
ceremoniously laid. The first officially recognized &Baha'i cemetery is ready
to receive the precious remains of the illustrious &Abu'l-Fadl and the immortal
Lua. The &Haziratu'l-Quds in &Baghdad has been extended and is nearing
completion. The property dedicated as first Administrative Center of the
Syrian &Baha'is has been purchased. A group of families of Persian believers,
Muslim, Jewish, Zoroastrian in origin, afire with the example set by American
pioneers, are settling the adjoining territories of &Hijaz, Yemen, Afghanistan,
Baluchistan and Bahrein Island. The spiritual competition galvanizing the
organized followers of &Baha'u'llah in East and West waxes keener as first
&Baha'i century speeds to its close. With bowed head, exultant spirit and
thankful heart I acclaim these recurrent, increasingly compelling
manifestations of the solidarity, loyalty and unquenchable spirit animating,
throughout five continents, the community of the followers of the Most Great
Name.
Cablegram November 22, 1941
THE CRUCIBLE OF WORLD CONFLAGRATION
The most great convulsion envisaged by the Prophets from Isaiah to
&Baha'u'llah, cataclysmic in violence, planetary in range, is assailing, at
long last, the predominating nations of the Asiatic and American continents.
The leading Power of the Western Hemisphere which, together with sister
republics, &Baha'u'llah's ringing call significantly summoned in His Most
Holy Book, the object of &Abdu'l-Baha's tender solicitude and ardent prayers,
the center of His hopes, the recipient of His promises and the beneficiary
of His blessings, has been suddenly though not unexpectedly plunged into
the crucible of world conflagration. Purged, tested, galvanized, coalescing
with its sorely-tried sister nations the world over, the great Republic of the
New World, the enviable parent of System heralding the World Order of
&Baha'u'llah, must assume through adversity its preponderating share of
responsibility to lay down, once for all, broad, worldwide, unassailable
foundations of that discredited yet immortal System. Though the immediate
future be dark, critical and fraught with anguish, I feel it my bounden
duty to appeal in this hour as never before to the Trustees of &Baha'u'llah's
priceless Revelation whether teachers or administrators, individuals or
Assemblies,
+P54
North or South, white or colored, young or old, to refuse at all costs
to surrender their solemn spiritual responsibilities, refrain from relaxing
their teaching efforts, determine never to slacken their sacred task of
building the institutions whose progress destiny has indissolubly linked with
the fortunes of the most disastrous, most challenging, most pregnant period of
human history.
Cablegram December 13, 1941
A TRULY WORLD-EMBRACING CRISIS
Dear and valued co-workers: The entry of the United States of America
into the war invest it with the character of a truly world-embracing crisis,
designed to release world-shaking, world-shaping forces, which, as they
operate, and mount in intensity, will throw down the barriers that hinder the
emergence of that world community which the World Religion of &Baha'u'llah
has anticipated and can alone permanently establish. It marks a milestone
on the road which must lead the peoples of the North American continent
to the glorious destiny that awaits them. It confronts the American
&Baha'i community, already so well advanced in the prosecution of their
Seven Year Plan, with a challenge at once severe and inescapable. The
exterior ornamentation of their consecrated Edifice has been providentially
expedited to a point where its completion is now assured. The intercontinental
and national teaching campaigns, that constitute the second and even
more vital aspect of that plan, though progressing magnificently in the
States, in Canada and throughout Latin America, are still far from having
attained their consummation. The obstacles which the extension of the
war to the Western Hemisphere has raised are, I am well aware, manifold
and formidable. The heroic self-sacrifice exhibited by the North American
&Baha'i community will, I am confident, surmount them. The Hand of
Omnipotence, which has led so mighty a member of the human race to
plunge into the turmoil of world disaster, that has provided thereby the
means for the effective and decisive participation of so promising a nation
in the immediate trials and the future reconstruction of human society, will
not and cannot allow those who are directly, consciously and worthily promoting
the highest interests of their nation and of the world, to fall short
of the accomplishment of their God-given task. He will, more than ever
before in their history, pour out His blessings upon them, if they refuse to
allow the present circumstances, grievous though they are, to interfere with
the full and uninterrupted execution of this initial undertaking in pursuance
of their world mission. The coming two years must witness, fraught
as they may well be with the greatest ordeal afflicting their countrymen, a
+P55
manifestation of spiritual vitality and an output of heroic action,
commensurate with the gravity and afflictions of the present hour, and worthy
of the concluding years of the first &Baha'i century.
January 15, 1942
IMPELLED TO DEPUTIZE FIVE MEMBERS
Message to 1942 Convention
Last phase of Seven Year Plan so auspiciously begun, so vigorously
prosecuted, is opening. The first &Baha'i Century is fast running out. The
agonies of a travailing age are culminating. The &Bab's stirring, unique
injunction, directing the peoples of the West to leave their cities to insure
the triumph of the Divine Cause was recorded a century ago in the
&Qayyumu'l-Asma'. &Baha'u'llah's significant summons calling upon all the
Presidents of the Republics of the western hemisphere to champion the Cause of
Justice was issued seventy years ago in His Most Holy Book. The broad
outlines of &Abdu'l-Baha's matchless design, conceived twenty-five years
ago for the benefit of the North American believers, was transmitted to
posterity in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. The Seven Year Enterprise,
regarded as the initial stage in the execution of a World Mission, has been
already launched. The gigantic Temple undertaking, constituting the major
obligation of this enterprise, has been virtually consummated. The vast
Intercontinental Teaching Campaign is visibly yielding first fruits in every
Republic of Latin America. Upon the crucial year ahead hinge the fortunes of
this historic crusade. From Alaska to Chile, the Americas are astir with the
leavening influences of the rising Order of the newborn Revelation. The great
Republic of the West is inescapably swept into the swelling tide of the world
tribulations, presaging the assumption of a preponderating share in the
establishment of the anticipated Lesser Peace. Invisible hosts are marshalled,
eager to rush forth and crown every effort, however humble, however belated,
exerted to speed the unfinished tasks. Again I renew plea for closer communion
with the Spirit of &Baha'u'llah, for more passionate resolve, for more
abundant flow of material resources, and for wider dispersion, intenser
concentration, by a still greater number of pioneers, settlers and itinerant
teachers to insure for the Plan a termination commensurate with and wondrous
as the exploits marking the opening decade of first &Baha'i Century.
Myself deprived of personal participation in the task allotted to the
prosecutors of the epoch-making Plan, I am impelled to deputize five members
of the American &Baha'i community to help fulfill in my behalf whatsoever
pioneer field is most vital to its urgent requirements. Pledging five thousand
dollars for accomplishment of this purpose.
Cablegram April 26, 1942
+P56
THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN
Viewed in the perspective of &Baha'i history, the Seven Year Plan,
associated with the closing years of the First &Baha'i Century, will come to be
regarded as the mightiest instrument yet forged, designed to enable the
trustees of a firmly established, steadily evolving Administrative Order to
complete the initial stage in the prosecution of the world mission confidently
entrusted by the Center of the Covenant to His chosen disciples. The
Divine Plan, thus set in operation, may be said to have derived its inspiration
from, and been dimly foreshadowed in, the injunction so significantly
addressed by &Baha'u'llah to the Chief Magistrates of the American continent.
It was prompted by the contact established by &Abdu'l-Baha Himself,
in the course of His historic journey, with the entire body of His followers
throughout the United States and Canada. It was conceived, soon after
that contact was established, in the midst of what was then held to be one
of the most devastating crises in human history. It underwent a period of
incubation, after His ascension, while the machinery of a divinely appointed
Administrative Order was being laboriously devised and its processes set
in motion. Its initial operations were providentially made to synchronize
with the final years of a century that witnessed the birth and rise of a
Faith of which it is the direct consequence. The opening stage in its
execution has been faced by, and will survive, the severe challenge of a crisis
of still greater magnitude than that which baptized its birth. The conclusion
of the first phase of its tremendous and irresistible unfoldment is now
approaching. The hopes and aspirations of a multitude of believers, in both
the East and the West, young and old, whether free or suppressed, hang on
its triumphant consummation. The Temple itself, that fair incarnation of
the soul of an unconquerable Faith, and the first fruit of the Plan now set
in motion, stands in its silent beauty, ready to reinforce the strenuous
endeavors of its prosecutors. Towering in grandeur and resplendent in its
majesty it calls aloud incessantly for a greater, a far greater number of
pioneers who, both at home and in foreign fields, will scatter to sow the
Divine seeds and gather the harvest into its gates. The Author of the Plan
Himself, looking down from His retreats above, and surveying the prodigious
labors of His defeatless disciples, voices, with even greater insistence, the
same call. The time in which to respond to it is relentlessly shortening. Let
men of action seize their chance ere the swiftly passing days place it
irretrievably beyond their reach.
May 26, 1942
CONSECRATED TO TEACHING TASKS
The completion of the Temple should, and I feel confident will, release
tremendous and unprecedented forces of spiritual energy destined to be
+P57
wholly consecrated to the teaching tasks now confronting the American
believers. The concentrated, the sustained, and undivided attention of the
individual believers and all &Baha'i agencies, local, regional, as well as
national, should be directed to the attainment of this supreme, this shining
goal. The increase in the number of pioneers, of every class, race, age and
outlook is the vital need of the present hour. May the Beloved bless richly
and continually this mighty and glorious endeavor.
June 17, 1942
A BEFITTING CLIMAX
I am thrilled with admiration as I contemplate, at this advanced stage
in the unfoldment of the Seven Year Plan, the vastness of the field already
covered by the pioneer activities of its stalwart and valiant prosecutors.
The heights of heroic self-sacrifice to which they have attained, the depths
of faith and devotion they have plumbed in the course of their ceaseless
exertions are no less noteworthy than the immensity of the task they have
already performed. An effort so prodigious, a mission so sublime, a solidarity
so truly remarkable, an achievement, which in its scope and quality, stands
unparalleled in American &Baha'i history, provide a befitting climax to the
century old record of magnificent accomplishments associated with the rise
and progress of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. Such a glorious century, so unique
in the annals of mankind's spiritual history, is, however, not yet completed.
The gigantic enterprises which the American believers are pledged to consummate
are as yet but partially concluded. The remaining two years must
witness an intensification of &Baha'i activity, throughout the entire Western
Hemisphere on such a scale as to eclipse the splendor of all past achievements,
and worthily crown this initial phase in the progressive evolution of
the Divine Plan. An unprecedented multiplication in the number of pioneer
teachers and settlers; an unexampled flow of material resources for their
maintenance and the extension of their labors; a still wider dissemination
of &Baha'i literature, to aid and support them in their presentation of the
Faith to Latin American peoples; an immediate increase in the number of
groups and Assemblies in the States and Provinces of North America; an
increased awareness on the part of all believers, whether in the North or in
the South, whether newly enrolled or of old standing in the Faith, that
every one of them shares, vitally and directly and without any exception,
in the responsibility for the successful prosecution of the Plan; a still
firmer resolution not to allow a world-convulsing conflict, with its attendant
miseries, perils, dislocations, and anxieties, to deflect them from their
course or distract their attention; these are the crying needs of this
critical, this challenging, this swiftly passing hour; to exploit its
possibilities, to meet
+P58
its challenge, to grasp its implications, is the manifest, the inescapable and
urgent duty of every member of the &Baha'i communities now laboring so
assiduously in the Western Hemisphere. May the cumulative effect of
their concentrated and sustained labors shed further lustre on the concluding
years of this, the first century of the &Baha'i Era.
August 15, 1942
ACCLAIM WITH GRATEFUL HEART
Acclaim with grateful heart, on twenty-first Anniversary of &Abdu'l-Baha's
Ascension, the glorious emergence of the firmly-welded, incorruptible
American &Baha'i community from severest crisis since His passing which
the blindness of the breakers of &Baha'u'llah's and &Abdu'l-Baha's Covenants
has, amidst His kindred, and in the City of the Covenant, recently tragically
precipitated. Posterity will unhesitatingly recognize so spontaneous, shining,
stirring demonstration of fidelity rendered alike to the Lord of the Covenant
and to its Center as a victory more enduring, more momentous, than any
triumphs, however notable, which the standard-bearers of the Administrative
Order, the champion builders of the Temple, the stalwart executors of
the Divine Plan have achieved or may yet achieve in the closing years
of the expiring First &Baha'i Century. Nursed since birth in the lap of the
unfailing solicitude of the Center of the Covenant, torch-bearer of the
Divine Order recognized as child of that Covenant, vanguard of that
host destined to diffuse the Light of that same Covenant over the face of
the entire globe, American &Baha'i community is now assuming rightful
place at the forefront of the world-wide, loyal, unbreachable spiritual army
of &Baha'u'llah preparing, both in the East and West, to launch still greater
campaigns, scale loftier heights, at the dawning of the Second &Baha'i
Century.
November 30, 1942
THE IMMORTAL LUA
The immortal Lua, mother-teacher of the American &Baha'i Community,
herald of the dawn of the Day of the Covenant, has been ceremoniously
and reverently transferred by Egyptian brethren representing the local
&Baha'i communities to the immediate vicinity of the grave of far-famed
&Abu'l-Fadl in the newly established &Baha'i cemetery in Cairo. The
&Isma'iliyyih believers together with Assembly delegates of Egypt have held an
inaugural ceremony at the second &Baha'i cemetery allocated by the Egyptian
authorities. The sacred rights of the persecuted, expelled community,
repeatedly denied legitimate burial, are now vindicated. The progressive
emancipation of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah from the traditional shackles of
religious
+P59
orthodoxy is increasingly evident and humbly, gratefully recognized by
followers of the Faith the world over.
Cablegram January 7, 1943
THE UNFINISHED TASKS
The recent response of the American friends to my appeal for pioneers
to go forth and settle in virgin territories and places where the need is
greatest has raised a load from my heart, and mightily reinforced the hopes
and expectations which their past achievements have aroused within me.
We stand at the threshold of the last year of the first &Baha'i century. The
unfinished tasks, however much they have been reduced, are still formidable.
The Temple is as yet unfinished. The initiation of a nation-wide publicity
campaign, intelligently directed and energetically pursued, utilizing to the
full the advantages gained in recent years in so many fields of &Baha'i
activity still remains to be undertaken. Measures for a befitting celebration
of the Centennial anniversary of the Faith must be carefully considered and
duly executed. The aims and purposes of our beloved Cause, the achievements of
its heroes, martyrs, teachers, pioneers and administrators, the unity of its
followers, the character of the institutions they have reared, should, one and
all, be ably presented, widely broadcast, carefully explained in publications,
through the radio and the press. There is no time to lose. A great
responsibility rests on the elected representatives of the most envied
community in the &Baha'i world, whose advantages are unique, whose capacities
are incomparable, whose vision, courage, tenacity, resolution and loyalty are
exemplary; which has amply demonstrated its worthiness to be the recipient
of the countless favors showered upon it by &Abdu'l-Baha and of the specific
bounty conferred upon the rulers and presidents of the continent of which
it is a part by no one less than &Baha'u'llah Himself, in His Most Holy Book.
To His "Apostles," as testified by the Center of His Covenant, I direct my
fervent plea that they establish, beyond the shadow of a doubt, in these
concluding months of the first &Baha'i century, their indisputable right to
be designated by so exalted a title, and vindicate their ability to execute the
mission with which that title has invested them.
January 8, 1943
COMPLETION OF TEMPLE EXTERIOR
Heart aglow with pride, love, gratitude for superb achievement of
completion of exterior of the House of Worship, Mother Temple of the West.
&Baha'u'llah's high behest, enshrined in His Most Holy Book, has been
brilliantly executed. The thirty-five year old enterprise, initiated on same
day that the &Bab's sacred remains were transferred to Mount Carmel, has been
+P60
triumphantly consummated. The unique Edifice, singled out for consecration
by the hands of &Abdu'l-Baha, has been nobly reared. The Greatest Holy
Leaf's last ardent wish has been befittingly fulfilled. The Concourse on high
is jubilant. Myself bow head in joyous, reverent recognition of prodigious
accomplishment which deserves to rank among the outstanding enterprises
launched in the Heroic Age and the most signal victory won since the inception
of the Formative Period of the &Baha'i Dispensation.
Cablegram January 18, 1943
HIS SERVICES UNFORGETTABLE
Assure relatives of Mathew Kaszab of my heartfelt condolences and
profound sympathy for the loss of this heroic pioneer. His services are
unforgettable and abundantly rewarded. Loving prayers.
Cablegram January 18, 1943
ALL-AMERICA CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
Message to 1943 Convention
I desire to announce to the elected representatives of the valiant,
blessed, triumphant American &Baha'i Community assembled beneath the dome of
the recently completed Mother Temple of the West on the occasion of the
Convention inaugurating the hundredth year of the first &Baha'i Century, the
momentous decision to convene, in May, 1944, an All-America Centennial
Convention comprising delegates to be separately elected by each State and
Province in the North American continent, and to which every Republic
of Latin America may send one representative. All groups, all isolated
believers, as well as all local communities already possessing Assemblies, will
henceforth share in the election of Convention delegates. The multiplication
of &Baha'i Centers and the remarkable increase in the number of groups and
isolated believers, prompt my decision. The historic occasion of next year's
festivities, commemorating alike the Hundredth Anniversary of the birth
of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah and the Fiftieth Anniversary of its establishment
in the Western Hemisphere, and celebrating the completion of the exterior
ornamentation of the first House of Worship in the Western World, imperatively
demand it. Details of the project have already been mailed. I
congratulate the best-loved American believers, I share their joy and wish
them God-speed, confident of still greater victories as they forge ahead in
the course of the second &Baha'i Century along the path leading them to
their high destiny. I hope to forward, in time for the solemn thanksgiving
service to be held in the auditorium of the Temple on the evening of May
twenty-second, at the hour of His epoch-making Declaration, a sacred portrait
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of the &Bab, the only copy ever sent out from the Holy Land, to be
unveiled at the dedication ceremony and to repose for all time, together
with &Baha'u'llah's blessed hair, beneath the dome of the Holy Edifice within
the heart of the North American continent.
April 14, 1943
FOUNDATION STONE LAID BY THE CENTER OF THE COVENANT
The completion of the exterior ornamentation of the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
in Wilmette, the most hallowed Temple ever to be erected by the followers
of &Baha'u'llah, and the crowning glory of the first &Baha'i century, is an
event of unique and transcendental significance. Neither the first
&Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the &Baha'i world, reared in the city of &Ishqabad, nor
any House of Worship to be raised in succeeding centuries, can claim to possess
the vast, the immeasurable potentialities with which this Mother Temple of the
West, established in the very heart of so enviable a continent, and whose
foundation stone has been laid by the hand of the Center of the Covenant
Himself, has been endowed. Conceived forty years ago by that little band
of far-sighted and resolute disciples of &Abdu'l-Baha, members of the first
&Baha'i community established in the Western Hemisphere; blessed and
fostered by a vigilant Master Who directed its course from the hour of its
inception to the last days of His life; supported by the spontaneous
contributions of &Baha'is poured in from the five continents of the globe, this
noble, this mighty, this magnificent enterprise deserves to rank among the
immortal epics that have adorned the annals of the Apostolic Age of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
The debt of gratitude owed by the entire &Baha'i world to its
champion-builders is indeed immeasurable. The admiration which this brilliant
exploit has evoked in the breasts of countless followers of the Faith in East
and West knows no bounds. The creative energies its completion must unleash
are incalculable. The role it is destined to play in hastening the emergence
of the world order of &Baha'u'llah, now stirring in the womb of this travailing
age, cannot as yet be fathomed. We stand too close to so majestic, so lofty,
so radiant, so symbolic a monument raised so heroically to the glory of the
Most Great Name, at so critical a stage in human history, and at so significant
a spot in a continent so richly endowed, to be able to visualize the future
glories which the consummation of this institution, this harbinger of an as
yet unborn civilization, must in the fulness of time disclose to the eyes of
all mankind.
That so laborious, so meritorious an undertaking has been completed a
year before its appointed time is a further cause for rejoicing and gratitude,
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and an added testimony to the vision, the resourcefulness, and enterprising
spirit of the American believers.
No need, however, to dwell at length on their past achievements,
remarkable and exemplary though they have been, nor is this the time to
expatiate on the superb spirit that has characterized their stewardship in the
service of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. Tasks of extreme urgency, of great
magnitude, of the utmost significance await them in this concluding year
of the first &Baha'i century, and at this hour of great peril, of stress and
trial for all mankind. The sacred--the pressing, the inescapable teaching
responsibilities assumed under the Seven Year Plan must be resolutely faced as
befits those whose record has shed so brilliant a light on the annals of the
first &Baha'i century. The consolidation of each and every nucleus, formed
so painstakingly in every republic of Central and South America, the formation
of a &Baha'i Assembly in every virgin State and Province in the North
American Continent, call for undivided attention, for further heroism, for
a concerted, a persistent, a herculean effort on the part of the stalwart
builders of that bounteous Edifice which posterity will recognize as the
greatest shrine in the Western world.
Nor must the elaborate preparations in connection with the forthcoming
celebration of the centenary of our glorious Faith be overlooked or neglected,
if we would befittingly consummate this first, this most fecund, century of
the &Baha'i era. An unprecedented, a carefully conceived, efficiently
co-ordinated, nation-wide campaign, aiming at the proclamation of the Message
of &Baha'u'llah, through speeches, articles in the press, and radio broadcasts,
should be promptly initiated and vigorously prosecuted. The universality
of the Faith, its aims and purposes, episodes in its dramatic history,
testimonials to its transforming power, and the character and distinguishing
features of its World Order should be emphasized and explained to the
general public, and particularly to eminent friends and leaders sympathetic
to its cause, who should be approached and invited to participate in the
celebrations. Lectures, conferences, banquets, special publications should,
to whatever extent is practicable and according to the resources at the
disposal of the believers, proclaim the character of this joyous Festival. An
all-American Convention, at which representatives of &Baha'i centers in every
Republic in Central and South America will be invited to participate, and
to which, for the first time, all isolated believers, all groups, and all
communities already possessing local Spiritual Assemblies will have the right
to appoint delegates and to share in the election of the National Spiritual
Assembly, will, moreover, have to be held to commemorate this epoch-making
event. A dedication ceremony, in consonance with the solemnity
of the occasion, and held beneath the dome of the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, on the
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very day and at the very hour of the &Bab's historic Declaration, followed by
a public session, consecrated to the memory of both the &Bab and &Abdu'l-Baha,
should constitute the leading features of this historic Convention.
For it should be borne in mind that in the year 1944 we celebrate not
only the termination of the first century of the &Baha'i Era, but also the
centenary of the birth of the &Baha'i Dispensation, of the inception of the
&Baha'i cycle, and the birth of &Abdu'l-Baha, and commemorate as well
the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the &Baha'i Faith in the
Western world.
No effort, nor any sacrifice can be deemed too great to insure the
decisive, the brilliant success of the celebrations which this historic year,
of such manifold significance, must witness. He Who in the past has, in
diverse ways and on so many occasions, graciously and unfailingly guided,
blessed and sustained the members of this privileged community will, no doubt,
continue to aid and inspire them to carry to a victorious conclusion the
unfinished tasks which still confront them, and will enable them to crown their
labors in a manner that will befit their high destiny.
March 28, 1943
&BAHA'I COMMUNITIES OF EAST AND WEST
Successive reports, proclaiming the American believers' brilliant feat,
the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Temple, their historic
exploits in the spiritual conquest of every Republic of Latin America, as
well as their impending victory to be won through the establishment of the
structural basis of the &Baha'i administrative order in the Virgin States and
Provinces of North America, are thrilling the Eastern communities of the
&Baha'i world with delight, with admiration and with wonder.
Ninety-five Persian families, emulating the example of the American
trail-blazers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, have recently forsaken their homes
and followed in the footsteps of pioneers already departed from Persia
yesterday evening to hoist its banner in the adjoining territories of
Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sulamaniyyih, &Hijaz and Bahrein Island.
Local Assemblies have been founded in Kashmir Valley in the extreme
north and in Madras Presidency in the extreme south, as well as in Haydarabad,
the leading stronghold of Muslim orthodoxy in India.
The National &Baha'i Administrative Headquarters of the Egyptian believers
are nearing completion. A similar institution is in process of establishment
in India's capital city, Delhi. A Guest House, adjunct to the newly
built Administrative Headquarters of the &Baha'is of &Iraq, has been
constructed.
&Baha'i communities of East and West are arising in the fourth year of
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the devastating conflict in the full strength of their undisruptable
solidarity, resolved to write, through immortal deeds, further glorious pages
in the last Chapter of the first &Baha'i Century.
I appeal to the standard-bearers of &Baha'u'llah's ever-advancing army
to safeguard the spiritual prizes already won and maintain every outpost of
the Faith established in the southern hemisphere. I entreat them to exert
still more magnificent efforts to discharge befittingly the one remaining
responsibility in the North American continent.
I am praying for the achievement of a resounding total victory in all
the Americas, thereby sealing the triumph of the first stage in the Divine
Plan for whose execution the entire machinery of the Administrative Order
was for no less than sixteen years patiently and laboriously erected.
May 27, 1943
THE CROWNING CRUSADE
The American believers' seven year enterprise consecrated to the service
of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, deriving direct inspiration from &Abdu'l-Baha's
Divine Plan, launched on the eve of the world catastrophic conflict, recognized
as the greatest collective undertaking in the annals of the first &Baha'i
Century, is rapidly culminating. Their sister communities of Persia, British
Isles, Egypt, &Iraq, India, Syria, Australia and New Zealand marvel at the
scale of the prodigious labors of the American &Baha'i community, gratefully
rejoice at the accumulating evidences of its incomparable victories and are
galvanized into action, inspired to emulate its example. The multiplication
of &Baha'i centers in recent years in both East and West, the erection of
administrative headquarters, the purchase of historic sites, the settlement of
virgin areas, the migration into neighboring territories are all directly
attributable to the potent impulse communicated through the superb action
initiated and executed by the American adherents of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
The initial stages of the momentous plan have been brilliantly executed.
The most formidable obstacles impeding its progress have been courageously
faced and progressively swept away. Its first fruits, exemplified by the
completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Temple and the formation
of a nucleus of the Faith in every Republic of Latin America, have been
triumphantly gathered. The pivotal year marking the turning point of its
fortunes has been immortalized by the unparalleled exploit of the formation
of twenty-eight Assemblies in the States and Provinces of the North American
continent. The range of its unfinished tasks is swiftly diminishing.
Total victory is within sight but the six remaining virgin areas of Alaska,
Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, South Carolina, North Dakota and
South Dakota, as well as the inadequately reinforced Republics of Nicaragua,
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San Domingo, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru still demand the
concentrated and sustained attention of the National representatives of the
American &Baha'i community, the speedy assistance of the National Teaching
and Inter-America Committees, and the systematic support of all subsidiary
agencies both regional and local. The goal cities and the far-off Republics
are calling for fresh recruits to complete the pioneer roll of honor. Veteran
believers, however brilliant their record, neophytes, however limited their
experience, are alike summoned as the final hour approaches to rush forth
in a last supreme effort to bridge the remaining gaps in the spiritual front
extending the entire length of the Western Hemisphere. I am ardently
supplicating fresh outpourings of the sustaining grace of the Lord of Hosts
to enable His stalwart warriors befittingly to consummate the crowning
crusade of the first century of the &Baha'i Era.
August 2, 1943
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENTENARY
The latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the
activities of the members of the American &Baha'i community have been
such as to excite the brightest hopes for the victorious consummation of the
collective undertaking they have so courageously launched and have so
vigorously prosecuted in recent years. As the first &Baha'i Century approaches
its end, the magnitude and quality of their achievements acquire added
significance and shed increasing luster on its annals. The proceedings of the
recently held annual Convention; the formation of twenty-eight Assemblies
in the course of the year that has just elapsed; the splendid progress achieved
in the Latin-American field of &Baha'i activity; the superb spirit evinced
by the pioneers holding their lonely posts in widely scattered areas throughout
the Americas; the exemplary attitude shown by the entire body of the
faithful towards the machinations of those who have so sedulously
striven to disrupt the Faith and pervert its purpose--these have, to a marked
degree, intensified the admiration of the &Baha'i communities for those who
are contributing so outstanding a share to the enlargement of the limits,
and the enhancement of the prestige, of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah. The
preparations which the American believers are undertaking for the celebration
of the Centenary of the Faith must be such as to crown with immortal
glory the fifty-year long record of their stewardship in the service of that
Faith. Such a celebration must, in its scope and magnificence, fully
compensate for the disabilities which hinder so many &Baha'i communities in
Europe and elsewhere, and even in &Baha'u'llah's native land, from paying a
befitting tribute to their beloved Faith at so glorious an hour in its
history. The few remaining months of this century must witness a concentration
of effort, a
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scale of achievement, a spirit of heroism that will outshine even the most
daring exploits that have already immortalized the Seven Year Plan and
covered with glory its valiant prosecutors. The plea I addressed to them, at
this late hour, will, I am sure, meet with a response no less remarkable than
their past reactions to the appeals I have felt impelled to make to them ever
since the inception of the Plan. He Who, at every stage of their collective
enterprise, has so abundantly blessed them, will, no doubt, continue to
vouchsafe the blessings until the seal of unqualified victory is set upon their
epoch-making task.
August 8, 1943
THE BELOVED FAITH IS SURGING FORWARD
My heart is overflowing with joyous gratitude at the magnificent advance
made in numerous spheres of &Baha'i activity. The formation of an Assembly
in the few remaining areas of the North American continent, the consolidation
of the foundation of the newly-established Assemblies, and the preservation
of the status of the &Baha'i centers in all Republics of Latin America,
imperatively demand vigilant care, concentrated attention and further
self-sacrifice from the vanguard of the valiant army of &Baha'u'llah. The
beloved Faith is surging forward on all fronts. Its undefeatable, stalwart
supporters, both teachers and administrators, are steeling themselves for
noble tasks, braving acute dangers, sweeping away formidable obstacles,
capturing new heights, founding mighty institutions, winning fresh recruits
and confounding the schemes of insidious enemies. The American
&Baha'i community must, and will at whatever cost, despite the pressure of
events and the desolating war, maintain among its sister communities the
exalted standard of stewardship incontestably set during the concluding
years of the first &Baha'i Century. The confident spirit, unfaltering
resolution animating its members, their tenacious valor, elevated loyalty,
nobleness of spirit and mighty prowess, will, ere the expiry of the century,
crown with complete victory the monumental enterprises undertaken during the
course of the fifty years of its existence.
October 5, 1943
A STILL MORE COMPELLING DISPLAY
The vigorous action promptly taken by your assembly to insure the
success of the forthcoming Centenary Celebrations is highly commendable,
and provides a fresh demonstration of the magnificent response made by the
American believers to every call demanding renewed exertion on their part
in the service of the Cause of &Baha'u'llah. The progress recently achieved in
building up Spiritual Assemblies in the virgin areas of the North American
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continent has been truly remarkable. To consummate so vast an enterprise,
however, a still more compelling display of the vitality of the spirit
animating the American &Baha'i community is required, a still greater
concentration of effort is needed, an even more stirring evidence of the daring
boldness of its members is imperative. Whoever will arise, in these
concluding, fast-fleeting months of the last year of the first &Baha'i Century,
to fill the remaining posts, and thereby set the seal of total victory on a
Plan so pregnant with promise, will earn the lasting gratitude of the present
generation of believers in both the East and the West, will merit the acclaim
of posterity, will be vouchsafed the special benediction of the Concourse on
High, and be made the recipient of the imperishable bounties of Him Who is the
Divine Author of the Plan itself. Whoever will rush forth, at this eleventh
hour, and cast his weight into the scales, and contribute his decisive share
to so gigantic, so sacred and historic an undertaking, will have not only
helped seal the triumph of the Plan itself but will also have notably
participated in the fulfillment of what may be regarded as the crowning act of
an entire century. The opportunity that presents itself at this crucial hour
is precious beyond expression. The blessings destined to flow from a victory
so near at hand are rich beyond example. One final surge of that indomitable
spirit that has carried the American &Baha'i community to such heights is all
that is required, as the first &Baha'i century speeds to a close, to release
the flow of those blessings that must signalize the termination of the first,
and usher in the dawn of the second, &Baha'i Century.
November 16, 1943
THE AUSPICIOUS YEAR
The auspicious year destined to witness the Centenary of the Birth of
the Faith of &Baha'u'llah is brilliantly opening. The last year of the first
&Baha'i Century is more than half spent. The tempo of organized, concerted
activities of the members of the worldwide &Baha'i community is correspondingly
accelerating. Teaching campaigns, enterprises of institutional significance,
publicity measures, publication projects, and celebration plans are
rapidly multiplying. Inter-community competition is steadily mounting.
The world-desolating conflict, now in its fifth year, is powerless to cloud
the splendid prospect of the triumphant termination of the first, most shining
century of the &Baha'i Era. &Tihran reports thirty-four Assemblies
constituted, fifty-four groups reinforced, fifty-eight new centers
established. Messages from Delhi indicate that &Baha'is have established
residence in over sixty localities in India and eighteen Assemblies are already
functioning. To the National &Baha'i Headquarters previously founded in
&Tihran, Wilmette and &Baghdad, are now added similar centers in Cairo, Delhi
and Sydney, officially
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registered in the names of their respective National Assemblies, and
representing an addition to &Baha'i national endowments amounting to
approximately eighteen thousand pounds. The &Baha'i international endowments
have been further enriched by a recent acquisition on Mount Carmel in the
vicinity of the &Bab's Shrine transferred to the name of the Palestine Branch
of the American National Assembly. Twenty-five acres of land situated
in the Jordan Valley have just been dedicated to the Tomb of &Baha'u'llah.
The recent acquisition of land adjacent to the site of the projected &Tihran
Temple raises the holding to over three and a half million square meters.
The Seven Year Plan, providing the chief impulse to the extraordinary expansion
of these magnificent activities, must, during the remaining five
months, as befitting thanksgiving act for continued outpouring of God's
unfailing grace, surge ahead to dazzling victory surpassing our highest
expectations. The prosecution of the Plan, whose scope transcends every
other enterprise launched by &Baha'i communities throughout the whole century,
must, ere the hundred years run out, culminate in one last, supreme
effort whose repercussions will resound throughout the &Baha'i world.
January 4, 1944
ADDITION TO ENDOWMENTS
Since the transmission of my recent message conveying news of the
magnificent progress achieved by &Baha'i communities, a substantial addition
to the endowments dedicated to the Shrines raises the holdings in the Jordan
Valley to over five hundred acres. The extension of teaching enterprises
East and West, the multiplication of &Baha'i endowments, national and
international, the consolidation of administrative institutions, above all the
superb evidences of incorruptible loyalty to &Abdu'l-Baha and His Will, equally
proclaim the unyielding determination of the world community to seal with
triumph the first &Baha'i Century.
January 16, 1944
PARTICIPATION OF LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS
The participation of Latin American believers in the &Baha'i Centennial
Convention is vital to the future development of the Faith in the Americas.
I urge individuals as well as the National Assembly to extend assistance,
financial and otherwise, to enable as many representatives as possible to join
the North American believers in the proceedings of a gathering of such
momentous importance and historic significance in the evolution of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah in the western hemisphere.
January 29, 1944
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BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE THE ENTERPRISES
The brilliant achievements of the heroic pioneers, the itinerant teachers,
the indefatigable administrators of &Baha'i teaching activities whether local,
regional or national, set the seal of total victory on the Seven Year Plan,
befittingly consummate the fifty year long enterprises undertaken by the
American &Baha'i Century. My heart is filled with joy, love, pride and
gratitude at the contemplation of the stupendous shining deeds immortalizing
the valiant prosecutors of the greatest collective enterprise ever launched in
the course of the history of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
April 2, 1944
TURNING POINT IN &BAHA'I HISTORY
The one remaining and indeed the most challenging task confronting
the American &Baha'i Community has at long last been brilliantly accomplished.
The structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah has, through this superb victory, and on the very eve of the
world-wide celebrations of the Centenary of His Faith, been firmly laid
by the champion-builders of His World Order in every state of the Great
Republic of the West and in every Province of the Dominion of Canada.
In each of the Republics of Central and South America, moreover, the
banner of His undefeatable Faith has been implanted by the members of
that same community, while in no less than thirteen Republics of Latin
America as well as in two Dependencies in the West Indies, Spiritual Assemblies
have been established and are already functioning--a feat that has
outstripped the goal originally fixed for the valiant members of that
Community in their inter-continental sphere of &Baha'i activity. The exterior
ornamentation of the first &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West--the culmination
of a forty year old enterprise repeatedly blessed and continually
nurtured by &Abdu'l-Baha has, furthermore, through a remarkable manifestation
of the spirit of &Baha'i solidarity and self-sacrifice so powerfully
animating the members of that stalwart community, been successfully completed,
more than a year in advance of the time set for its termination.
The triple task undertaken with such courage, confidence, zeal and
determination--a task which ever since the inception of the Seven Year
Plan has challenged and galvanized into action the entire body of the
American believers and for the efficient prosecution of which processes of
a divinely appointed Administrative Order had, during no less than sixteen
years, been steadily evolving--is now finally accomplished and crowned
with total victory.
The greatest collective enterprise ever launched by the Western followers
of &Baha'u'llah and indeed ever undertaken by any &Baha'i community in
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the course of an entire century, has been gloriously consummated. A victory
of undying fame has marked the culmination of the fifty year long labors
of the American &Baha'i community in the service of &Baha'u'llah and has
shed imperishable lustre on the immortal records of His Faith during the
first hundred years of its existence. The exploits that have marked the
progress of this prodigious, this three-fold enterprise, covering a field
stretching from Alaska in the North to the extremity of Chile in the South,
affecting the destinies of so great a variety of peoples and nations, involving
such a tremendous expenditure of treasure and effort, calling forth so
remarkable a spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, and undertaken
notwithstanding the vicious assaults and incessant machinations of the breakers
of &Abdu'l-Baha's Covenant, and despite the perils, the trials and restrictions
of a desolating war of unexampled severity, augur well for the successful
prosecution, and indeed assure the ultimate victory, of the remaining stages of
the Plan conceived, a quarter of a century ago, by &Abdu'l-Baha for the
followers of &Baha'u'llah in the North American continent.
To the band of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, who
have forsaken their homes, who have scattered far and wide, who have willingly
sacrificed their comfort, their health and even their lives for the
prosecution of this Plan; to the several committees and their auxiliary
agencies that have been entrusted with special and direct responsibility for
its efficient and orderly development and who have discharged their high
responsibilities with exemplary vigor, courage and fidelity; to the national
representatives of the community itself, who have vigilantly and tirelessly
supervised, directed and coordinated the unfolding processes of this vast
undertaking ever since its inception; to all those who, though not in the
forefront of battle, have through their financial assistance and through the
instrumentality of their deputies, contributed to the expansion and
consolidation of the Plan, I myself, as well as the entire &Baha'i world, owe a
debt of gratitude that no one can measure or describe. To the sacrifices
they have made, to the courage they have so consistently shown, to the
fidelity they have so remarkably displayed, to the resourcefulness, the
discipline, the constancy and devotion they have so abundantly demonstrated,
future generations viewing the magnitude of their labors in their proper
perspective, will no doubt pay adequate tribute--a tribute no less ardent
and well-deserved than the recognition extended by the present-day builders
of the World Order of &Baha'u'llah to the Dawn-Breakers, whose shining
deeds have signalized the birth of the Heroic Age of His Faith.
To the elected representatives of all the &Baha'i communities of the New
World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on
the occasion of the historic, first All-American &Baha'i Convention--a
Convention
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at which every state and province in the North American continent
is represented, in which the representatives of every Republic of Latin America
have been invited to participate, whose delegates have been elected, for the
first time in American &Baha'i history, by all local communities already
possessing Assemblies, by all groups and isolated believers throughout the
United States and Canada, and whose proceedings will be for ever associated
with the celebration of the Centenary of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, of the
hundredth anniversary of the birth of &Abdu'l-Baha, of the fiftieth anniversary
of the founding of the &Baha'i Faith in the Western Hemisphere,
and of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the First
&Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West, to all the privileged attendants of such an
epoch-making Convention, I, on my own behalf, as well as in the name of all
&Baha'i Communities sharing with them, at this great turning point in the
history of our Faith, the joys and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to
convey the expression of our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for
the brilliant conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the
most stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken
during the entire course of the first Century of the &Baha'i Era.
April 15, 1944
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
&Baha'is have established residence in seventy-eight countries, fifty-six
of which are sovereign states. &Baha'i literature has been translated and
published in forty-one languages. Translations have been undertaken in twelve
additional languages. Thirty-one races are represented in the &Baha'i world
community. Five National Assemblies and sixty-one local Assemblies belonging
to ten countries are incorporated and legally empowered to hold property.
The &Baha'i international endowments held in the Holy Land are estimated
at a half million pounds sterling. National &Baha'i endowments in the
United States are estimated at one million, seven hundred thousand dollars.
The area of land in the Jordan Valley dedicated to the &Baha'i Shrines
is over five hundred acres. The site purchased for future &Baha'i Temple of
Persia comprises three and a half million square meters. The cost of the
structure of the first &Baha'i Temple in the West has been one million, three
hundred thousand dollars.
In every state and province of North America &Baha'i Assemblies are
functioning. In thirteen hundred localities of the United States and Canada
&Baha'is reside. &Baha'i Centers have been established in every republic of
Latin America, fifteen of which possess Spiritual Assemblies. The Faith in
the Western Hemisphere now stretches from Anchorage, Alaska, to Magallanes,
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the world's southernmost city. Sixty-two Centers have been established
in India, twenty-seven with Spiritual Assemblies.
Among the historic sites purchased in Persia are the &Tihran home of
&Baha'u'llah, the &Bab's shop in Bushire, the burial place of &Quddus, part of
the village &Chihriq, three gardens in Badasht, and the place where &Tahirih
was confined.
&Baha'i administrative headquarters have been founded in &Tihran, Delhi,
Cairo, &Baghdad, Wilmette and Sydney. &Baha'i endowments in the Holy
Land and the United States have been exempted from taxes by the civil
authorities. Civil recognition has been extended to &Baha'i Assemblies in
five states of the United States to solemnize &Baha'i marriages.
May 9, 1944
MESSAGE TO CENTENARY CONVENTION
Hail with glad, grateful heart the historic Assembly of the elected
representatives of the followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah throughout the
Western Hemisphere participating in the first All-America Convention
gathered in the vicinity of the first &Baha'i Center of the Western World
beneath the dome of the first &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the West to commemorate
alike the Anniversary of the founding of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah and
the Birth of &Abdu'l-Baha, the Anniversary of its establishment in the
Occident and to celebrate the completion of the exterior ornamentation of
the most hallowed House of Worship in the entire &Baha'i world. I recall
with profound emotion on this solemn, auspicious occasion the milestones
in the progress of the community whose rise constitutes one of the noblest
episodes in the history of the First &Baha'i Century. Called into being
through the operation of the will of the Center of &Baha'u'llah's Covenant,
energized at the hour of its birth by dynamic spirit communicated to it by the
band of first returning pilgrims, purged in its infancy by fiery tests
involving the defection of its acknowledged founder, nursed through the
dispatch of unnumbered Tablets by the vigilant Master, as well as by the
successive messengers designed to support its infant strength, launched upon
its rapid career through series of institutional acts and missionary journeys
signalizing the first stirrings of its community life, infinitely enriched by
priceless benefits conferred upon its members in the course of &Abdu'l-Baha's
sojourn in their midst, invested with a unique mission through the revelation
of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, firmly knit through processes proclaiming
the emergence of the Divinely appointed Administrative Order, immortalized
through the signal acts of its illustrious member who succeeded in winning
the allegiance of royalty to its cause, consummating its record of achievements
through total victory of the Seven Year Plan thereby sealing the
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triumph of the first stage in the Mission bestowed by &Abdu'l-Baha, this
repeatedly blessed, much envied community deserves to be acclaimed the
Torchbearer of the civilization, the foundations of which the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah is destined unassailably to establish in the course of the Second
&Baha'i Century. I am moved to pay a well deserved tribute at this great
turning point in the career of so privileged a community to the gallant band of
its apostolic founders whose deeds heralded the dawn of the Day of the
Covenant in the West, to its intrepid pioneers who labored to enlarge the
bounds of the Faith in the five continents, to its indefatigable administrators
whose hands reared the fabric of the Administrative Order, to its
heroic martyrs who followed in the footsteps of the Dawn-Breakers of the
heroic age, to its itinerant teachers who with written and spoken word
pleaded its cause and repulsed the attacks of its adversaries, to its
munificent supporters whose liberality accelerated the expansion of its
manifold activities, and last but not least to the mass of its stout-hearted,
self-denying members whose strenuous, ceaseless, concerted efforts so
decisively contributed to the consolidation and broadening of its foundations.
I desire to direct a particular appeal to the Latin American representatives
participating in the Centennial Convention to deliberate on measures to
reinforce the ties binding them to their Sister Community, unitedly devise
means for the inauguration of teaching campaigns in their respective Republics,
the dissemination of &Baha'i literature, the multiplication of &Baha'i
administrative centers as preliminary steps in the formation of &Baha'i
National Assemblies, and lend impetus to the prosecution of any enterprise
launched to carry still further the Plan conceived by &Abdu'l-Baha for the
American &Baha'i Community.
May 15, 1944
CONSOLIDATION OF NOBLY-WON VICTORIES
The magnificent victories achieved in the teaching field and the sphere
of administrative activity by the American &Baha'i community crowned with
glory the historic services rendered by the followers of &Baha'u'llah
throughout the West during the last fifty years of the first &Baha'i Century.
I rejoice in the brilliant celebrations befittingly consummating the record of
splendid achievements. Immediate attention should be focused in the course of
the opening year of the Second Century on consolidation of the nobly-won
victories through reinforcement of newly formed Assemblies, multiplication
of groups and increase in number of Assemblies as well as corresponding
effort through Latin America. Praying for continuous flow of Divine
outpourings.
Cablegram May 27, 1944
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A SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IN EVERY REMAINING REPUBLIC
I rejoice in the success of the vitally needed, timely conference with
Latin American representatives; greatly welcome the decisions reached and
the plans formulated. The first year of the second &Baha'i century should
witness the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in every remaining Republic
and be signalized by a steady increase in the number of pioneers for both
Latin and North America; by a further multiplication of groups, a wider
dissemination of &Baha'i literature in both Spanish and Portuguese, closer
relationships consolidating the communities and more effective contact by
these communities with the masses of the population and all races and classes.
I am ardently praying for mighty victories in every field as essential
preliminary to the emergence of independent National Spiritual Assemblies and
as indispensable prelude to launching in other continents, soon after the
termination of the world conflict, the second stage of the momentous World
Plan so intimately associated by &Abdu'l-Baha with the future destinies of
the illustrious American &Baha'i Community.
July 17, 1944
THE SEAL OF SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH
The splendid and unique success that has attended the Centenary
celebrations so admirably conducted by the American &Baha'i community, has
befittingly crowned not only the fifty year record of services rendered by
its valiant members, but the labors associated with the entire body of their
fellow-workers in East and West in the course of an entire century. The
consummation of the Seven Year Plan, immortalizing the fame of this richly
blessed community, set the seal of complete spiritual triumph on these
historic celebrations. A memorable chapter in the history of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah in the West has been closed. A new chapter is now opening,
a chapter which, ere its termination, must eclipse the most shining victories
won so heroically by those who have so fearlessly launched the first stage
of the Great Plan conceived by &Abdu'l-Baha for the American believers.
The prizes won so painstakingly in both the North and South American
continents must be preserved at all costs. A mighty impetus should, at
however great a sacrifice, be lent to the multiplication of &Baha'i centers in
Latin America, to the expansion of &Baha'i literature, to the translation of
the &Baha'i sacred writings, to the proclamation of the verities of the Faith
to the masses, to the strengthening of the bonds binding the newly-fledged
communities to each other, and to the deepening of the spiritual life of their
members.
The task so marvelously initiated in the Latin Republics must be further
consolidated ere the prosecutors of the World Plan bequeathed by &Abdu'l-Baha
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can embark on further stages, of still greater significance, in their
world teaching mission. The cessation of hostilities will open before them
fields of service of tremendous fertility and undreamed-of magnitude. The
advantages and opportunities these fields will offer them cannot be exploited
unless and until the work to which they have already set their hand in the
Western Hemisphere is sufficiently advanced and consolidated. Time is
pressing. The new tasks are already beginning to loom on the horizon. The
work that still remains to be accomplished ere the next stage is ushered in
is still considerable and exacting. I feel confident that the American &Baha'i
community will, as it has in the past, rise to the occasion and discharge its
high duties as befits the unique position it occupies.
August 18, 1944
FAITHFUL PIONEER
Share grief at passing of devoted, faithful pioneer (John Stearns). His
services have been unforgettable and highly meritorious. Advise the
construction of a memorial. Assure friends in Lima (Peru) my deepest, loving
sympathy.
Cablegram November 19, 1944
PASSAGES IN "GOD PASSES BY"
Comforted, strengthened by assurance of sympathy and loyalty of American
believers in the deplorable, delicate situation created by dishonorable
alliances made by members of my family, first with Covenant-breakers and
now with external enemies of the Faith.
The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith
in five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best
monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of those
whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their forfeiture
of their sacred birthright.
The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in
"God Passes By" indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since
the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the Center
of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their nefarious
activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.
The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism,
redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community
enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the
consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.
I urge the entire &Baha'i community of the Western Hemisphere to
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focus its attention during the remaining months of the opening year of
the second century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining
Republics of Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard
against dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout
the Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider
dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with masses,
more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective coordination of
local and national activities aiming at fuller demonstration of the rights
and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole refuge of humanity in its
hour of bitterest agony.
The American believers' meritorious activities, individual, local,
interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers during
the approaching Anniversary of &Abdu'l-Baha's Ascension.
Cablegram November 21, 1944
THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION
1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide
of spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a
world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged,
disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every continent
of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our Faith and Pivot of
its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the adjoining territory of
&Iraq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the British Isles, so severely
subjected to the violence of a world tempest; throughout the length and breadth
of India; in far-off Australasia and in the Nile Valley--all with the sole
exception of the distant Republics of the West subjected in varying degrees to
the imminent danger of becoming the theatre of war--the communities
laboring for the promotion of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah have, throughout
five tumultuous years, been providentially spared to hold aloft its banner,
to preserve its integrity, to maintain the continuity of its institutions, to
enrich its annals, to consolidate its structure, to further disseminate its
literature and to befittingly celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed
has been the share of that privileged community, which has been invested
by the Pen of the Center of the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in
the prosecution of a task which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval
and despite its mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order
of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the
participation of the Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the
sorrows, burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the
agonies of a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming
the splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the
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services of this community since the ascension of &Abdu'l-Baha. Indeed,
coincident with the period of America's direct participation in this world
struggle and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which
such a participation has engendered, the members of this community have
evinced a heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that
have eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment
of the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the
development of the Seven Year Plan.
What the year 1945, on whose threshhold we now stand, has in store
for the members of this determined, this valiant, this watchful, this exemplary
community only the future can reveal. That the trials and afflictions
suffered by their country and its people must wax as this world upheaval
moves towards a climax no one can any longer doubt. The challenge that
will face this stalwart community will no doubt be severe. To allow the
prizes so nobly won, over so vast a field, at so great a cost, at so critical
an hour, to fall into jeopardy would be unworthy of a career so auspiciously
initiated, so completely dedicated to the Cause of God, so rich in promise
and so brilliant in almost every phase of its evolution. Every local Assembly,
the ordained pivot of a divinely-ordained System, which has been established
in the States and Provinces of the North American continent, as well as
in the Republics of Latin America, must, through a supreme effort on the
part of pioneers, visiting teachers and Regional Committees, be steadfastly
maintained. Simultaneously a no less determined effort should be exerted
to enable the admittedly large number of groups scattered throughout the
Americas to attain Assembly status. No less urgent is the obligation to
proclaim the verities enshrined in the Faith of &Baha'u'llah by every means
which individuals, Assemblies and committees can devise, through the press
and radio, through an unprecedented dissemination of literature, through
its systematic translation into Spanish and Portuguese and above all through
active association with leaders of public thought as well as direct contact
with the masses of the people. Through such means as these, and through
such means only can the members of the American &Baha'i Community, who
have so audaciously and successfully launched the first stage of the Divine
Plan, be enabled to pave the way and usher in, soon after the cessation of
hostilities, the succeeding stage in the evolution of their world mission. My
prayers and loving thoughts surround them continually in their devoted labors.
December 24, 1944
THE ADMISSION OF PERSIANS
I desire to reiterate the warning that no Persian, student or otherwise,
must be admitted into the community under any circumstances unless
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provided with full credentials. Exception and compromise would be detrimental
to the vital interests of the Faith at the present juncture. The
utmost caution and vigilance is imperative.
January 20, 1945
STAUNCH PIONEER
Deeply grieve passing of indefatigable, staunch pioneer (i.e., Miss Mary
Lesch) of the Faith in the Day of the Covenant. The record of her services
imperishable, her reward great in the &Abha Kingdom.
Cablegram, March 27, 1945
THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN EXTRICATE HUMANITY
The Divine Plan conceived by &Abdu'l-Baha for the American &Baha'i
community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history and
with which the destinies of the followers of &Baha'u'llah in the North American
continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven,
has, during the concluding years of the first &Baha'i Century, triumphantly
emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and
on a vast scale, had, for well nigh twenty years, been held in abeyance,
while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative Order, were, under
the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies
for its efficient and systematic prosecution. The next stage in the evolution
of the Plan cannot, however, be embarked upon, until the external causes,
hampering its further unfoldment in other continents of the globe, are
removed through the cessation of hostilities and the signal victories already
won through its initial development are sufficiently consolidated throughout
the Western Hemisphere. The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly
and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great
Design unfolded by &Abdu'l-Baha for the promulgation of the Faith of His
Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and
sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout
the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be
maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily
multiplied. The spirit that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of
triumph on the Seven Year Plan, must under the vigilant care of the National
representatives of the American &Baha'i community be constantly watched,
kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish
and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South
America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work
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that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of &Baha'u'llah must
during the opening years of the second &Baha'i Century, and through the
instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order,
whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western
Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the
masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious
assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing
presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the
character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as
the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and
intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose
activities and aims are akin to the teachings of &Baha'u'llah, for the purpose
of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and
the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways
and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors
silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to
exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents and abilities of the rank
and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends--these stand
out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years
of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers. The
facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree
unprecedented in American &Baha'i history. The combined resources of the
much-envied exemplary American &Baha'i community must be harnessed
for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt
of in their scope and plenteousness, are bound to be vouchsafed
to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these
noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more
momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be
launched.
There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without
fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet
undertaken, of the One Message that can alone extricate humanity from
the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim
to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue
it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His
Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner
will the hopes, the aims and objectives of &Abdu'l-Baha as enshrined in His
own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality
and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have
been endued.
March 29, 1945
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MY HEAVY-LADENED HEART
My heavy ladened heart, already oppressed by repeated defections of the
unworthy kindred of the beloved Master, is relieved by latest signal evidence
of the indomitable spirit of the members of divinely chosen American &Baha'i
community now unfurling the banner of the Faith and establishing the
structural basis of its administrative order in the world's southernmost city.
I hail the staunchness and fidelity distinguishing the winners of such superb
victories. I acclaim them true brothers and sisters worthy of the name
&Abdu'l-Baha. I urge the Inter-America Committee to devote special attention
and undertake prompt measures designed to increase the number of
believers, establish local administrative headquarters, and multiply the
subsidiary agencies indispensable to the maintenance of a flourishing community
in the southern extremity of the western hemisphere. Praying ever increasing
successes.
Cablegram April 21, 1945
NATIONWIDE, INTERCONTINENTAL PLANS
Assure newly-elected members of my fervent prayers for divine guidance
and strength to accomplish the tasks confronting the American &Baha'i community
in the second year of the second &Baha'i century. I appeal to National
Teaching, Regional and Inter-America Committees to intensify efforts for
multiplication of groups and Assemblies the length and breadth of the western
hemisphere. An ever-increasing flow of pioneers is indispensable to meet
the urgent requirements of the present hour. Renewed, determined, continued
exertions by individuals aimed at an unprecedented increase in the
number of enrolled believers is vital to the consolidation of activities
undertaken by pioneers. Systematic, well-conceived, carefully coordinated
plans, nationwide and intercontinental, devised by elected national
representatives of the community, are likewise a necessary preliminary to a
seed-sowing unexampled both in range and effectiveness in American &Baha'i
history. The attainment of this threefold objective in North, Central and
South America will signalize the initiation, in other continents, of the world
mission constituting the sacred birthright of the American followers of the
Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
Cablegram May 8, 1945
A SINGLE, ORGANICALLY-UNITED WORLD COMMONWEALTH
The followers of &Baha'u'llah throughout five continents unanimously
rejoice in the partial emergence of a war-torn humanity from the titanic
upheaval unerringly predicted seventy years ago by the Pen of the Author
of their Faith. The cessation of hostilities in the European continent
signalizes
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yet another chapter in the tragic tale of fiery trials providentially decreed
by inscrutable wisdom designed ultimately to weld the mutually antagonistic
elements of human society into a single, organically-united, unshatterable
world commonwealth. They gratefully acclaim the signal evidence of the
interposition of divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled
the World Center of our Faith to escape what posterity will recognize as
one of the gravest dangers which ever confronted the nerve center of its
institutions. They are profoundly aware of the bountiful grace vouchsafed
by that same Providence insuring, unlike the previous world conflict,
uninterrupted intercourse between the spiritual Center and the vast majority of
the communities functioning within the orbit of a far-flung Faith. They
are immeasurably thankful for the miraculous preservation of the Indian,
Persian, Egyptian, British and &Iraqi communities, long threatened by dire
perils owing to their proximity to the theatre of military operations. They
are deeply conscious that the progress achieved, despite six tempestuous
years, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the collective
enterprises launched by these communities, outshines the sum total of the
accomplishments since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith.
The Seven Year Plan inaugurated by the American &Baha'i community
under the lowering clouds of the approaching conflict victoriously completed
the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, established
the structural basis of the Faith in every State and Province of the
North American continent, and hoisted its banner in every Republic of
Latin America. The Indian believers' Six Year Plan, launched on the eve
of hostilities, more than quadrupled the centers functioning within the pale
of the Administrative Order. The edifices consecrated to the administrative
affairs of an ever-advancing Cause, involving the expenditure of over a
hundred thousand dollars, were erected, purchased or completed in the
Capital Cities of India, &Iraq and Egypt as well as Sydney, Australia. The
acquisition of numerous properties in &Baha'u'llah's native land, on Mount
Carmel and in the Jordan Valley, as well as the purchase of several important
historic sites associated with the Lives of both the Herald and the
Author of the Faith, swelled to an unprecedented degree our &Baha'i
endowments.
Preliminary steps for the completion of the &Bab's Sepulchre and the
establishment of the World Administrative Center through the removal of
the Remains of the Brother and Mother of &Abdu'l-Baha were undertaken.
The termination of the First Century of the &Baha'i Era, synchronizing with
the climax of the raging storm, was publicly and befittingly celebrated,
despite the multiplication of restrictions. Above all, the unity and integrity
of an incorruptible world community was consistently safeguarded in face
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of the insidious opposition of avowed enemies without and the Covenant-breakers
within.
Such splendid victories, over so vast a field, amidst such tribulations
during so prolonged an ordeal, augur well for the colossal tasks destined to
be accomplished during the course of the peaceful years ahead by the
builders of the embryonic World Order of &Baha'u'llah amidst the wreckage
of a disrupted, disillusioned society.
Cablegram May 12, 1945
A NEW PHASE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
The cessation of hostilities on the continent of Europe, the prospect of
an early termination of the bloody conflict raging in the Far East, invest
the members of the world &Baha'i community, and particularly its
standard-bearers in the great Republic of the West, with a great, a unique, and
inescapable responsibility. The first stage of the mission laid upon them by
&Abdu'l-Baha, the inauguration of which has been so long retarded while the
processes of a slowly emerging administrative order were being set in
motion, and which coincided with one of the darkest and most tragic periods
in human history, has been brought to a triumphant conclusion, and added
a golden page to the annals of the closing years of the first &Baha'i century.
As a new phase in the painful evolution of a sorely-tried and wayward
humanity opens, a new challenge summons the prosecutors of a Divine
Plan to gird up their loins, muster their resources, and prepare themselves
for the launching of the second stage of an enterprise which, as it reveals
its full potentialities, must stretch to embrace the five continents of the
globe. World turmoil, grave dangers, severe restrictions, the lethargy of
the public engrossed in its war problems, have failed to dampen the zeal,
or to undermine the resolve, or to interfere with the successful discharge
of the duty assumed by those who have so determinedly embarked on the
opening stage of their world encircling, divinely appointed mission. With
the return to more normal conditions, with the improvement of the means
of travel and communication, with the lifting of the deadening weight of
fear and care and the growing receptivity of the masses schooled in adversity
and groping for the means of ultimate salvation, opportunities without
number and unprecedented in their significance, present themselves to those
whose privilege and obligation it is to pave the way for the launching of
the succeeding stage of their historic and ever unfolding task.
Not until, however, normal conditions are fully restored and the world
situation is stabilized, and, above all, the prizes won through the operation
of the Seven Year Plan are adequately safeguarded and the basis of the
newly established Administrative Order sufficiently consolidated throughout
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the Western Hemisphere, can the ambassadors of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah,
carrying aloft the banner of His Name in the American continent, be
called upon to undertake unitedly and systematically, collective responsibility
for the diffusion of His Message, and for the erection of the fabric of
His Administrative Order, amidst the sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely
bewildered nations and peoples of the European continent.
The sooner the home tasks are fully discharged and newly fledged
Assemblies in Central and South America enabled to function adequately
and vigorously, the sooner will the stalwart members of the American &Baha'i
community, who, during so brief a period, and despite the prevailing darkness,
achieved such wonders throughout the Americas, extend the healing
influence of their Faith, on a scale as yet unprecedented, to the waiting
masses of that agitated continent.
As already observed, an intensification of effort is imperatively required
aiming at a bolder proclamation of the verities of a God-given Faith, at a
systematic and continent-wide dissemination of its authentic literature, at
a closer contact with the masses as well as the leaders of public thought,
at a further consolidation and multiplication of the administrative centers
scattered throughout the new world, and constituting the nuclei of its
future World Order, and, above all, at a more convincing revelation of
&Baha'i love, unity, solidarity and self-sacrifice, which alone can hasten the
consummation of the preliminary undertakings required to terminate the
period of transition intervening between the first and second stages of the
greatest crusade ever launched in the history of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
Time is pressing, the work that still remains to be accomplished in the
new world is vast and urgent, the need of the suffering masses the world
over, and particularly in Europe, is pitiable, the sustaining grace destined to
be vouchsafed from on high to those who will arise to achieve that task and
fulfill this need is boundless and assured. Its potency has been already fully
experienced, and abundantly demonstrated in the years that have witnessed
the most prodigious efforts exerted by the American believers. A still more
powerful display of its miraculous force can be confidently anticipated, if
those who have felt its impact in the past arise to carry out, in the years
that lie immediately ahead, the sublime and twofold task of the redemption
of mankind and the establishment of the world sovereignty of &Baha'u'llah.
Cablegram August 10, 1945
HEARTS UPLIFTED IN THANKSGIVING
Our hearts are uplifted in thanksgiving for complete cessation of the
prolonged, unprecedented world conflict. I hail the prospects of the removal
of the restrictions enabling American &Baha'i Community to expedite the
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preliminary measures required to launch the second stage of the Divine
Plan. I appeal focus attention upon the requirements of the all-important
Latin American work. The adequate fulfillment of this vital task preludes
the assumption of collective responsibility by triumphant community of the
spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption of sorely-tried, war-ravaged
European continent, destined to be associated with exploits which must
immortalize the second stage of the World Mission entrusted by &Abdu'l-Baha
to the apostles of His Father's Faith in the western world. The opportunities
of the present hour are infinitely precious, the time is pressing, the
call of the distressed, groping peoples of Europe pitiful, insistent. The work
still to be accomplished to consummate the mighty enterprise undertaken in
Latin America is considerable. The Almighty's sustaining grace is assured,
unfailing. I am praying from the depths of a joyful, thankful heart for
the outpouring of blessings no less remarkable than the divine bounties
vouchsafed unto the valiant prosecutors of the Plan in the course of the
opening phase of their World Mission.
Cablegram August 20, 1945
THE WORK OF REHABILITATION
The reports recently received from various sources, regarding the sad
conditions prevailing among the members of the sorely-stricken, long-suffering
&Baha'i communities in Germany and Burma, are of such a distressing
nature as to merit the energetic, the immediate, and collective intervention
of their fellow-workers in lands which have providentially been
spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon
it. Upon the American &Baha'i community, in particular, which throughout
this prolonged and bloody conflict, has of all its sister communities in East
and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity and been privileged not only to
maintain and preserve its institutions, but to prosecute so successfully a Plan
of such magnitude and significance, a special responsibility now rests--a
responsibility which, despite its manifold and pressing duties in the Western
Hemisphere, it can neither afford to neglect nor ignore.
Particularly in the heart of the European continent, where the present
turmoil, suffering and destitution are mysteriously paving the way for the
revival of a Faith which the Beloved Himself has unequivocally prophesied,
where a once flourishing community is struggling to fulfil the high hopes
entertained for it by Him, and where the prosecutors of the Divine Plan,
are to lend their direct and systematic assistance when launching the second
stage of their world mission, must the American believers contribute the
major share in the work of rehabilitation which the followers of &Baha'u'llah
must arise to perform.
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Through the extension of whatever financial assistance is feasible,
through the provision and distribution of adequate literature, through the
initiation of any measures, official or otherwise, which they can undertake
for the protection, reinstatement and revival of a greatly-tested, highly
promising and much loved community, the American believers have the
golden opportunity of adding a fresh chapter to the brilliant record of their
past international services to the Cause of God.
Nor should the urgency of the task in far-away Burma, where a flourishing
community had furnished so shining an example of &Baha'i fellowship
and solidarity, be underestimated. The spirit which its remnant has displayed
after so many years of persecution, dispersion and danger, merits the
widest measure of encouragement and support, both moral and financial.
Pressed as the American &Baha'i community must be by the twofold obligation
of proclaiming the verities of their Faith to the American public and
of consolidating the vast enterprises initiated throughout Latin America,
the stalwart and privileged followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah in North
America cannot allow so great an opportunity to advance the vital international
interests of His Cause to slip from their grasp. I feel confident that
in the discharge of this additional task they will exhibit those same traits
that have distinguished their stewardship for so many years to so glorious a
Cause.
December 21, 1945
THE GERMAN &BAHA'I COMMUNITY
The German &Baha'i community, dearly beloved, highly honored by
&Abdu'l-Baha, and destined to play an outstanding role in the spiritual
revival of an oppressed continent, has abundantly demonstrated in the course
of ten years of severest tribulations, dire peril and complete suppression,
the high character of its indomitable faith. I appeal to the entire community
of the greatly blessed, highly privileged American believers, to arise
unitedly and contribute generously through dispatch of funds and literature
designed to alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the institutions with which
the future prosecutors of the second stage of the Divine Plan must be closely
associated.
Cablegram December 31, 1945
EXEMPLARY PIONEER
Deeply grieve passing of exemplary pioneer of the Faith, Emogene Hoagg.
Her long record of national and international services is unforgettable,
her reward in the &Abha Kingdom assured and abundant.
Cablegram December 31, 1945
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LYDIA ZAMENHOF
Heartily approve nationwide observance for dauntless Lydia Zamenhof.
Her notable services, tenacity, modesty, unwavering devotion fully merit
high tribute by American believers. Do not advise, however, that you designate
her a martyr.
Cablegram January 28, 1946
HISTORIC DECISIONS
Overjoyed, profoundly thankful for munificent donation made by
American &Baha'i community for international relief. Urge establishment
of communication with German believers and careful consultation with
their representatives to collaborate in publication and expansion of much
needed German &Baha'i literature. Delighted at news of consolidation of
activities in Central America, the progress of the Public Campaigns and
development of youth activities. Advise address special immediate appeal
to American believers to insure large, representative attendance at approaching
Convention owing to momentous, historic decisions to be disclosed to
assembled representatives of ever-victorious, increasingly blessed, spiritually
maturing American &Baha'i community.
Cablegram February 25, 1946
MOMENTOUS RESPONSIBILITIES
The assistance extended by the American &Baha'i Community to the
long-suffering German believers is a further evidence of their readiness,
so abundantly demonstrated in the past, to champion the interests, and to
rehabilitate the institutions of their sister communities throughout the
&Baha'i world. This support, so generously extended, so consistently and
faithfully offered by the rank and file of the American believers, and
particularly by their elected National representatives, is but a subsidiary
aspect of the tremendous undertakings which, in both the North and South
American continents, the standard bearers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah have
initiated and developed, for the promotion of its interests, during the
concluding decades of the first &Baha'i century.
The twofold task which they have so nobly undertaken--the proclamation
of the Faith in the North American continent and the consolidation of
its nascent institutions in Latin America--must, whatever plan is devised
in the coming years for the furtherance of their world-wide mission--be
relentlessly prosecuted. That further responsibilities, of a momentous
character, will have to be superimposed on the stalwart prosecutors of
&Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, as they gird up their loins to carry a stage
further their historic labors in obedience to His wishes, no one can for a
moment doubt.
+P87
As the field of their activities, ranging over entire continents, grows in
scope and in importance, the aims and purposes associated with the first
stage of their glorious mission must, in no wise, be either neglected or
forgotten. The steady multiplication of groups and of Spiritual Assemblies
throughout the States of the great American Republic, the continual
broadcasting of the Divine Message to the leaders of public opinion and the
masses, as well as the establishment of the newly fledged local Assemblies
throughout Latin America on an unassailable basis, and the dissemination
of &Baha'i literature among its people, demand whatever the nature of the
supplementary responsibilities that will have to be assumed in the years
to come, the closest attention on the part of the entire body of the American
believers, and must continue to be regarded as the fundamental issues
facing their national representatives. The exploits immortalizing the first
stage of the Divine Plan, however glorious their record, have yet to yield
their noblest fruits. Efforts unremitting, systematic, and continent-wide
in their scope, can alone garner a harvest worthy of the high confidence
placed in them by &Abdu'l-Baha. May they prove themselves increasingly
worthy of so high a privilege, so glorious a task.
March 25, 1946
INAUGURATION OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLAN
Message to 1946 Convention
Hail with joyous heart the delegates of the American &Baha'i Community
assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in
momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted
in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent
community of the &Baha'i world enabling its members to consummate,
despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage
of &Abdu'l-Baha's Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the
inauguration of the &Baha'i Era completed sixteen months ere the appointed
time the exterior ornamentation of the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, laid the basis of
the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North
American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the
inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen republics of Latin
America, constituted active groups in remaining republics, swelled to sixty
the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.
The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a
colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period,
is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden
years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere
+P88
from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the
course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the
opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing.
Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year
Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the
mystic birth of &Baha'u'llah's prophetic mission in &Siyah-Chal at &Tihran.
A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers
of &Baha'u'llah's Order, torch-bearers of world civilization, executors
of &Abdu'l-Baha's mandate, to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition
the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the
borders of the Western Hemisphere.
The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already
won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of &Baha'i centers,
bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is
completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship
in the &Baha'i world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of
the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the
formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of
Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth
objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in war-torn,
spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations,
twice-blest by &Abdu'l-Baha's visits, whose rulers &Baha'u'llah specifically
and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the
Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No
effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers
&Baha'u'llah addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members were invested with
spiritual primacy by &Abdu'l-Baha and named by Him apostles of His Father,
whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message
and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most
Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic
world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose
elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Covenant
confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan
accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in
response to the divine mandate, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure
fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration
with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives,
and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.
Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching,
after a brief respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third
Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of
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the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states
and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be
befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial
of the formal assumption by &Baha'u'llah of the Prophetic Office
associated with Daniel's prophecy and the world triumph of the &Baha'i
revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the
evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to
shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and
Golden Ages of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the
furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every
enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah in the
course of the first &Baha'i century.
April 25, 1946
SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF THE OLD WORLD
Opening phase of spiritual conquest of the old world under divinely
conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity
prompt dispatch of nine competent pioneers to as many countries as feasible
charged to initiate systematic teaching work, commence settlement and
promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary office
in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities to
foster development of Assemblies in countries falling within the scope of
Plan. Recommend European Teaching Committee undertake without delay
measures aiming at close collaboration of British Publishing Trust and
Publishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy
of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition
of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in
&Tihran I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded
to Persia, as well as Assembly's annual contribution to World Center, to
funds earmarked for all-important far-flung European teaching and publication
activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs
momentous character of task already confronting American &Baha'i Community
in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world
are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of
&Baha'u'llah's New World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission
through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises
associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever-unfolding,
world-encircling Plan.
Cablegram June 5, 1946
+P90
THIRTY NEW ASSEMBLIES
Appeal National Teaching Committee unitedly arise play notable part
in stupendous exertions now being made by &Baha'i communities throughout
Americas in furtherance of second Seven Year Plan. Plead focus attention
enable thirty groups having six or more members speedily attain Assembly
status. Devoutly praying number of Assemblies functioning in North
America will reach one hundred and seventy-five ere expiry of second year
of second stage of Divine Plan. Attainment of this immediate objective will
challenge and galvanize all other agencies functioning in Latin America and
European continent to follow the superb example set for sister committees
laboring at the heart of the mother community of the Western hemisphere.
Cablegram June 13, 1946
A GOD-GIVEN MANDATE
The opening years of the second century of the &Baha'i Era are witnessing
the launching of yet another stage of an enterprise the range of whose
unfolding processes we can, at the present time, but dimly visualize. However
familiar we may be with its origin, however conscious of its magnitude
and bold character, however cognizant of the signal success that has attended
its initial operation, in the Western Hemisphere, we find ourselves
nevertheless incapable of either grasping the import of its tremendous
potentialities, or of correctly appraising the significance of the present
phase of its development. Nor can we assess its reaction, as the momentum of
the mysterious forces driving it onward augments, on the fortunes of the divers
communities whose members are consciously laboring for the achievement
of purposes akin to the high aims that animate its promoters, or estimate
its impact, as its scope is further enlarged and its fruition is accelerated,
on the immediate destinies of mankind in general.
The impulse from which this historic world-embracing crusade, which,
alike in the character of its Founder and the nature of the tasks committed
to its participants, is unprecedented in religious history, derives its
creative power may be said to have in a sense originated with the mandate
issued by the &Bab in His "&Qayyumu'l-Asma," one of His earliest and greatest
works, as far back as the opening years of the first &Baha'i century, and
directed specifically to the "peoples of the West," to "issue forth" from their
"cities" and aid His Cause.
To this initial impulse given by the Herald of our Faith, whilst confined
in the heart of far-away Asia, a still greater force was communicated, and
a more specific direction given, when the Author of our Faith Himself,
having already set foot on the fringes of the continent of Europe, addressed,
in His &Kitab-i-Aqdas, from behind the walls of the prison-city of &Akka, some
+P91
of the most celebrated passages of that Book to the Chief Magistrates of the
entire American continent, bidding them "bind with the hands of justice
the broken," and "crush the oppressor" with the "rod of the commandments"
of their Lord. Unlike the kings of the earth whom He had so
boldly condemned in that same Book, unlike the European Sovereigns whom
He had either rebuked, warned or denounced, such as the French Emperor,
the most powerful monarch of his time, the Conqueror of that monarch,
the Heir of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Caliph of &Islam, the Rulers of
America were not only spared the ominous and emphatic warnings which
He uttered against the crowned heads of the world, but were called upon
to bring their corrective and healing influence to bear upon the injustices
perpetrated by the tyrannical and the ungodly. To this remarkable
pronouncement, conferring such distinction upon the sovereign rulers of the
Western Hemisphere, must be added not only the passages in which the Author of
our Faith clearly foreshadows the revelation of the "signs of His dominion"
in the West, but also the no less significant verbal affirmations which,
according to reliable eye-witnesses, He more than once made in regard to the
glorious destiny which America was to attain in the days to come.
That same impulse was markedly accelerated when the Center of the
Covenant Himself, through a series of successive acts, chose to disclose, to
an unprecedented extent, the character of the Mission reserved for the
followers of &Baha'u'llah in that continent, and to delineate the tasks whereby
that God-given design was to be fulfilled. No sooner had He mounted the
helm of the Faith than He unmistakably revealed to His followers His purpose
of making the establishment of that Faith in the West, and particularly
in the New World, one of the chief objectives of His ministry. No sooner
had that great feat been accomplished than He undertook to visit those centers
which His disciples had labored to establish, and, through a number of
symbolic acts and weighty pronouncements, to pave the way for the inauguration
of the collective undertaking He was preparing those disciples to
carry out. In the Tablets of the Divine Plan, revealed at a later stage, and
in circumstances almost as critical as those which had accompanied the
inception of the Faith in the West, and which may be designated as the
Charter of the Plan with which He was to entrust them in the evening of
His life, He, in a language still more graphic and in terms more definite than
those used by either the &Bab or &Baha'u'llah, revealed the high distinction
and the glorious work which America, and particularly the United States
and Canada, was to achieve in both the Formative and Golden Ages of the
&Baha'i Dispensation.
His references to the "extraordinary brilliancy" of the light which His
Father's Revelation was to shed in the West; His prediction that "the West
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will have replaced the East" "through the splendor" of that Faith; His specific
prophecies regarding the future of the American continent, as the
"land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed" and "the mysteries
of His Faith shall be unveiled," and which "will lead all nations spiritually";
His even more specific tribute to the Great Republic of the West
which He proclaims to be "worthy of being the first to build the Tabernacle
of the Most Great Peace and proclaim the oneness of mankind," to be
"equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages
of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both the East
and the West"; His yet more startling words addressed to the followers of
the Faith in that Republic, referring to them as "apostles of &Baha'u'llah,"
characterizing their mission as "unspeakably glorious," and assuring them
that "should success crown your enterprise ... the throne of the Kingdom
of God will, in the plenitude of its majesty and glory, be firmly established";
and finally, His soul-stirring assertion that "the moment this Divine Message
is carried forward by the American believers from the shores of America,
and is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa
and of Australasia, and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community
will find itself securely established upon the throne of an everlasting
dominion," and that "the whole earth" will "resound with the praises of its
majesty and greatness"--all these, in conjunction with the explicit and
detailed instructions embodied in His Tablets, in connection with the execution
of their mission, may be regarded as having fixed the pattern, and
revealed a measure of the glory, of the Plan itself, which, after His
ascension, was to be collectively and formally prosecuted.
The creation of the administrative machinery of the Faith, according to
the precepts laid down in &Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament, and on which,
during the opening years of its Formative Age, the resources and attention
of the trustees of the Plan were chiefly concentrated, provided, after several
years of assiduous labor, the agencies for its proper and systematic
execution. The first stage of that enterprise, which had been held in
abeyance, for well nigh twenty years, while the administrative institutions of
the Faith were slowly taking shape and were being perfected, was finally
launched during the last decade of that same century whose opening years will
be associated with the earliest though veiled intimation of the phenomenal
destiny which the followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah in the New World
are to fulfill. The successful consummation of the first stage of that
long-deferred Mission, made possible through the brilliant execution of a Seven
Year Plan, embracing the entire Western Hemisphere, synchronized with,
and was befittingly commemorated through, the historic celebrations that
marked the termination of that century.
+P93
The opening decade of the second &Baha'i century coincides with the
launching of the second Seven Year Plan, destined alike to consolidate the
exploits that have shed such lustre on the last years of the preceding century,
and to carry the Plan a stage further across the ocean to the shores of the
Old World, and to communicate, through the operation of its regenerative
power, its healing influence to the peoples of the most afflicted, impoverished
and agitated continent of the globe. We who stand on the threshold of
this gigantic and two-fold undertaking are unable to discern the exact
course which its immediate operation, both on the home front and in fields
far from the scene of its earliest victories, is destined to take, the setbacks
it may suffer, or the triumphs it must ultimately achieve. The objectives,
however, which must orientate its prosecutors, and arouse them to a higher
pitch of concerted endeavor, are clearly defined, and by no means beyond
their collective power to achieve.
The double task already undertaken to enlarge the basis of the
administrative structure of the Faith throughout the states and provinces of
the North American continent and throughout Latin America, and to proclaim
its truths and principles to the masses, should be relentlessly pursued, whilst
the range of the operation of the Plan is being steadily enlarged. The
administrative centers--foci at which the ever expanding activities of a rising
Order must converge--whose total number had not exceeded forty at the
time of &Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America, which at the inception of the first
Seven Year Plan had risen to three hundred, and had swelled to over a
thousand ere the expiry of the first &Baha'i century, should through resolute
effort and careful planning, be continually and speedily multiplied.
Particular care should be constantly exercised to enable the groups scattered
throughout the length and breadth of the states and provinces of the United
States and Canada to attain Assembly status, and assume gradually the
responsibilities and functions assigned to them in the &Kitab-i-Aqdas and the
Tablets of &Abdu'l-Baha. A corresponding increase in the number of such
centers throughout both Central and South America should likewise be aimed at.
Bolder measures designed to proclaim the verities of the Faith, its tenets, its
claims and the purpose of its institutions, through the press and radio,
through displays, exhibits and conferences, and through a wider dissemination
of its literature in English, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as a more
convincing presentation of its aims and teachings to the leaders of public
opinion, should, moreover, be seriously and systematically undertaken not only
in the mother country but also throughout the Latin Republics where the
structural basis of &Baha'u'llah's embryonic Order has already been
established.
Collateral with this process of consolidation in North, Central and
South America, a special effort should be exerted to bring to a final
conclusion
+P94
the construction of the most holy Temple which will ever be erected by
the followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, and whose inception, forty-three
years ago, synchronized with the erection in the city of &Ishqabad of the
first &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the &Baha'i world. The completion of the interior
ornamentation of the Temple, following upon its exterior decoration, and
fitting it for the purposes for which it was ordained, and coinciding with
the fiftieth anniversary of its inception, will, in itself, pave the way for
the gradual erection of those Dependencies which are designed to supplement
the functions which the Central Edifice is destined to perform, and whose
future development must needs be provided for during successive stages in
the unfoldment of the Divine Plan itself.
Parallel with this double process of consolidation and construction
particular attention should be devoted to the provision of the necessary means
whereby the newly fledged centers in the Dominion of Canada and throughout
the Republics of Latin America can be coordinated and further consolidated,
through the formation of three National Spiritual Assemblies,
designed to participate in time in the international elections that must
precede the constitution of the First Universal House of Justice. The erection
of these three pillars, raising to eleven the number of existing National
Spiritual Assemblies, which are to be designated in future as Secondary
Houses of Justice, and are designed to support the highest legislative body
in the administrative hierarchy of the Faith, will, as the Divine Plan
continues to unfold, be supplemented by the formation of similar bodies which,
as they multiply, will, of necessity, broaden the basis and reinforce the
representative character, of the supreme elective institution which, in
conjunction with the institution of Guardianship, must direct and coordinate
the activities of a world-encircling Faith. Through the formation of these
National Spiritual Assemblies, as the implications of the Divine Plan gradually
unfold in the coming years, the American &Baha'i Community will, in
addition to its missionary activities throughout five continents and the
islands of the seven seas, be contributing directly to the laying of the
foundation, and hastening the formation, of an institution which, when
constituted, will have consummated the threefold process involved in the
erection of the total structure of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
&Baha'u'llah.
In conjunction with these afore-mentioned objectives, and in a sense,
more far-reaching in its repercussions and of greater urgency, is the task of
extending the ramifications of the Divine Plan to a continent which not only
stands in dire need of the ennobling, the reinvigorating, and spiritualizing
influence of a world-redeeming Faith, but must serve as a stepping-stone to the
spiritual conquest of the vast and numerous territories, lying as yet beyond
the scope of the plan, in both the Asiatic and African continents, and which
+P95
must, in the course of successive epochs, be warmed and illuminated by the
rays of &Baha'u'llah's Revelation as prescribed in the Tablets revealed by the
Center of His Covenant and the Authorized Interpreter of His teachings.
In the western extremity of that continent, in the Iberian Peninsula, the
parent land and fountain-head of the culture of those Republics which have
already been quickened by the first stirrings of the Plan conceived by
&Abdu'l-Baha; in the extreme North, among the Scandinavian peoples, and
further south, amidst their Flemish and French neighbors, whose conversion
will considerably enrich the diversity of the races to be included within
the orbit of its operation; in the extreme South, in the Italian Peninsula, the
cradle of a far-famed civilization and the seat and stronghold of the most
powerful Church in Christendom; in the very heart of that continent,
amidst a freedom-loving, peace-pursuing, high-minded people, the prosecutors
of the second Seven Year Plan must, preferably in the capitals of these
countries, arise to establish, on an unassailable foundation, the structural
basis of the nascent institutions of their Faith, which future promoters of
the Divine Plan must, in the course of succeeding epochs, enlarge, and
thereon erect the mightiest edifices of that Faith. Any assistance which the
National Spiritual Assemblies of the &Baha'is of the British Isles and of
Germany can, through the instrumentality of their Publishing Committees
and other agencies, extend, any facilities which the establishment of an
Office, acting as an adjunct to the International &Baha'i Bureau in Geneva can
provide, should be promptly and fully utilized for the speedy accomplishment
of the initial tasks to be undertaken in Europe under the present Seven
Year Plan.
Through the prompt settlement of nine wholly dedicated souls, aglow
with enthusiasm and keenly aware of the plight of the peoples for whose
sake they are abandoning the comfort and security of their homeland, and
who will head the Roll of Honor as the curtain rises on this new and glorious
phase of American &Baha'i enterprise; through the dispatch of itinerant
teachers who, either delegated by the American National Spiritual Assembly
or of their own accord, will cross and re-cross the vast distances, now
providentially shrunk, which separate the old and new worlds, who will
assiduously water the seeds sown by these pioneers, consolidate the work
already started by isolated believers, and act as intermediaries between the
various groups which, as the present Plan develops, must evolve into Spiritual
Assemblies; through the vigorous dissemination of literature, properly
translated, promptly printed, and comprehensive in range, in French, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch and each of the Scandinavian languages;
through a steady process of concentration on a few receptive souls, who can be
relied upon to embrace, wholeheartedly and with alacrity, the truth of the
Faith,
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identify themselves unreservedly with its tenets, actively support its
institutions, and join in forming its initial Assemblies; through the
persistent efforts, at a later stage, of a considerable number of settlers who,
joining forces with the original pioneers and the native and newly enrolled
believers, will provide the necessary requisites for the constitution of
properly functioning local Assemblies; through the participation, as the
situation on the continent improves and the restrictions are relaxed, of these
settlers, itinerant teachers, native and isolated believers in conferences and
organizations, humanitarian, educational and otherwise designed to promote ends
akin to our own; through the liberal supply of funds to those who have forsaken
their homes and kindred in the new world, and journeyed so far afield in
the service of both their Faith and their fellowmen; through the exertion of
a special effort, as the present Plan approaches its close and the general
condition in most European countries improves, aimed at securing, through the
radio and the press, the widest possible publicity for the Faith, its tenets
and institutions, to serve as a means of reinforcing the number of its avowed
promoters and of consolidating the basis of its evolving institutions--through
these, and similar measures which the American National Spiritual Assembly
and its European Teaching Committee may initiate and promote, the
American &Baha'i Community must demonstrate, in this new field of their
inter-continental enterprise, an initiative, a tenacity, a resourcefulness, a
self-sacrifice and an audacity comparable to, and even exceeding, the qualities
evinced by those who, ever since the inception of the Faith in the West,
have, haphazardly, single-handed and with no organization to sustain them,
labored with such fidelity and devotion in various countries throughout that
continent.
The first century of the &Baha'i Era witnessed in darkest Persia the birth
of the Faith, as well as the establishment of the Administrative Order--the
Child of that Faith--an Order which, cradled in the heart of the North
American continent, has already succeeded, in less than a decade and in
direct consequence of the initial operation of &Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, and
through the concerted, the sustained, and richly blessed efforts of the
champion builders of that Order, in spreading out its roots and in rearing its
institutions in no less than twenty Republics throughout the length and
breadth of the Western Hemisphere. The second century is destined to witness
a tremendous deployment and a notable consolidation of the forces
working towards the world-wide development of that Order, as well as the
first stirrings of that World Order, of which the present Administrative
System is at once the precursor, the nucleus and pattern--an Order which,
as it slowly crystallizes and radiates its benign influence over the entire
planet, will proclaim at once the coming of age of the whole human race, as
well as
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the maturity of the Faith itself, the progenitor of that Order. As the Plan
bequeathed by &Abdu'l-Baha unfolds, through successive decades of the present
century, its measureless potentialities, and gathers within the field of
its operations nation after nation in successive continents of the globe, it
will be increasingly recognized not only as the most potent agency for the
development of the world Administrative System, but also as a primary
factor in the birth and efflorescence of the World Order itself in both the
East and the West.
The first Seven Year Plan, ushered in on the eve of the greatest conflict
that has ever shaken the human race, has, despite six years of chaos and
tribulation, been crowned with a success far exceeding the most sanguine
hopes of its ardent promoters. Within so short a period, during such troublous
years, such exploits were achieved as will forever illuminate the pages of
&Baha'i history. The exterior ornamentation of the House of Worship was
completed sixteen months before the appointed time. The administrative
basis of the Faith was laid in every virgin state and province of the North
American continent. The number of Spiritual Assemblies in the United
States and Canada was almost doubled. No less than fourteen Republics
of Latin America were provided with such Assemblies. Active groups began
to function in the remaining Republics, raising thereby the number of
sovereign states within the pale of the Faith to sixty. Extension work in
which the newly constituted Assemblies were vigorously participating was
initiated. Two of the newly fledged Assemblies in Latin America, as well as
a considerable number in the United States, were incorporated. An
International School to provide training for &Baha'i teachers in Central and
South America was founded. Considerable literature in Spanish and Portuguese
was disseminated. Newspaper and radio publicity, teacher training courses, and
&Baha'i Youth Symposiums were inaugurated. A distributing center of &Baha'i
literature for Latin America was established in the capital of Argentina, and
the outposts of the Faith, in the Western Hemisphere, were pushed as far
north as Anchorage in Alaska, in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, and as
far as the extremity of Chile, to Magellanes, the world's southernmost city.
The second Seven Year Plan, set in motion on the morrow of that universal
and cataclysmic upheaval, must, despite the great confusion that still
prevails, the spiritual torpor, the disillusionment, the embitterment, the
political and social restlessness that still afflict the human race, meet, as
it gathers momentum and multiplies its agencies across the ocean, in lands and
amidst races that have borne, for the most part, the brunt of this dire and
bloody contest, with a success no less startling and complete than that which
rewarded the self-sacrifice, the vigilance and the strenuous labors of those
who inaugurated the initial phase of this glorious Mission. Might not this
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second and still greater adventure, undertaken by the trustees of a God-Given
Mandate, demonstrate in both hemispheres, despite the prodigious scale
on which it is launched, such prodigies of service as will carry its
prosecutors far beyond their avowed objectives, and eclipse, through the
wisdom, the valor and the exploits of those pioneers and administrators
immediately responsible for its planning and execution, the splendor of every
previous collective enterprise undertaken by the followers of &Baha'u'llah in
the West?
Let them as they gird up their loins, as they deliberate in their council
chambers, as they embark on their bold and holy mission, as they encounter
the hazards, and suffer the setbacks, and are confronted with the formidable
obstacles, which so vast, so complex, so arduous an enterprise must necessarily
involve, call to mind the illuminating, the comforting, the sustaining
words enshrined for all time in those epoch-making Tablets wherein the
unerring pen of their Master has traced the course of their mission: "May
America become the distributing center of spiritual enlightenment, and all
the world receive this heavenly blessing! For America has developed powers
and capacities greater and more wonderful than other nations... May the
inhabitants of this country ... rise from their present material attainments
to such a height that heavenly illumination may stream from this center to
all the peoples of the world." And again: "O ye apostles of &Baha'u'llah!
May my life be sacrificed for you!... Behold the portals which &Baha'u'llah
hath opened before you. Consider how exalted and lofty is the station you are
destined to attain; how unique the favors with which you have been endowed...
The full measure of your success is as yet unrevealed, its significance
still unapprehended. Ere long ye will, with your own eyes, witness
how brilliantly every one of you, even as a shining star, will radiate in the
firmament of your country the light of Divine Guidance, and will bestow
upon its people the glory of an everlasting life.... The range of your future
achievements still remains undisclosed. I fervently hope that in the near
future the whole earth may be stirred and shaken by the results of your
achievements. The Almighty will no doubt grant you the help of His grace,
will invest you with the tokens of His might, and will endue your souls
with the sustaining power of His Holy Spirit." And again: "Be not concerned
with the smallness of your numbers, neither be oppressed by the multitude
of an unbelieving world... Exert yourselves; your mission is unspeakably
glorious. Should success crown your enterprise, America will assuredly
evolve into a center from which waves of spiritual power will emanate, and
the throne of the Kingdom of God will, in the plenitude of its majesty and
glory, be firmly established.... The hope which &Abdu'l-Baha cherishes for
you is that the same success which has attended your efforts in America
may crown your endeavors in other parts of the world, that through you the
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fame of the Cause of God may be diffused throughout the East and the
West and the advent of the Kingdom of the Lord of Hosts be proclaimed
in all the five continents of the globe.... Thus far ye have been untiring in
your labors. Let your exertions henceforth increase a thousandfold. Summon
the people in these countries, capitals, islands, assemblies and churches to
enter the &Abha Kingdom. The scope of your exertions must needs be
extended. The wider its range, the more striking will be the evidence of
Divine assistance." And finally, this apocalyptic vision of the consummation
of the task entrusted to the American &Baha'i community, as evoked by
that same Pen in those same Tablets: "The moment this Divine Message is
carried forward by the American believers from the shores of America, and
is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of
Australasia, and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community will find
itself securely established upon the throne of an everlasting dominion. Then
will all the peoples of the world witness that this community is spiritually
illumined and divinely guided. Then will the whole earth resound with
the praises of its majesty and greatness."
What greater reward can crown the labors of that community, now
launched on the second stage of its world mission, than that the consummation
of the second Seven Year Plan should coincide with the celebrations
commemorating the centenary of the "Year Nine," the year which alike
marked the termination of the &Babi Dispensation, and signalized the birth
of &Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission? It was at a time when the Faith for
which the &Bab had suffered and died was hovering on the brink of extinction,
when &Baha'u'llah lay wrapped in the gloom of the &Siyah-Chal of &Tihran, His
feet in stocks, His neck freighted with chains, and surrounded by vile and
wretched criminals, that the auspicious year 1269 A.H., acclaimed by the
&Bab as the "Year Nine," dawned upon the world, ushering in the most
glorious and momentous stage in the Heroic Age of the greatest religious
Dispensation in the spiritual history of mankind. To that year He had referred
as the year in which "the realities of the created things" will "be made
manifest," the year in which mankind "will attain unto all good," in which
the "&Bayan," as yet "in the stage of seed," will manifest "its ultimate
perfection," in which the "embryo of the Faith will attain the station of `the
most comely of forms,'" and in which "a new creation" will be beheld. It
was in that same year that the "third woe," as anticipated by St. John the
Divine, quickly succeeded the second. To that same year
&Shaykh-Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i, who had heralded the Faith of the &Bab, had alluded as
the year "after Hin" (68), when, according to his written testimony, the
"mystery" of the Cause of God would be "manifested," and the "secret" of His
Message "divulged." It was in that same year that, according to &Baha'u'llah
Himself,
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"the requisite number of pure, of wholly consecrated, and sanctified
souls" had been "most secretly consummated."
It was in such dramatic circumstances, recalling the experience of Moses
when face to face with the Burning Bush in the wilderness of Sinai, the
successive visions of Zoroaster, the opening of the heavens and the descent
of the Dove upon Christ in the Jordan, the cry of Gabriel heard by &Muhammad
in the Cave of Hira, and the dream of the &Bab, in which the blood of
the &Imam &Husayn touched and sanctified His lips, that &Baha'u'llah, He
"around Whom the Point of the &Bayan hath revolved," and the Vehicle
of the greatest Revelation the world has yet seen, received the first
intimation of His sublime Mission, and that a ministry which, alike in its
duration and fecundity, is unsurpassed in the religious history of mankind, was
inaugurated. It was on that occasion that the "Most Great Spirit," as
designated by &Baha'u'llah Himself, revealed itself to Him, in the form of a
"Maiden," and bade Him "lift up" His "voice between earth and heaven"
--that same Spirit which, in the Zoroastrian, the Mosaic, the Christian,
and &Muhammadan Dispensations, had been respectively symbolized by the
"Sacred Fire," the "Burning Bush," the "Dove," and the "Angel Gabriel."
"One night in a dream," &Baha'u'llah Himself, recounting His soul-shaking
experience of the first stirrings of His prophetic Mission, in the
Year Nine, in that abominable pit, has written, "these exalted words were
heard on every side: `Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and
by Thy Pen. Grieve Thou not for that which hath befallen Thee, neither
be Thou afraid, for Thou art in safety. Ere long will God raise up the
treasures of the earth--men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through
Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as have recognized
Him'." And again, "During the days I lay in the prison of &Tihran,
though the galling weight of the chains and the stench-filled air allowed
Me but little sleep, still in those infrequent moments of slumber I felt as
if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast, even as a
mighty torrent that precipitateth itself upon the earth from the summit of
a lofty mountain. Every limb of My body would, as a result, be set afire.
At such moments My tongue recited what no man could bear to hear."
What still greater reward could await those who, inspired by the success
achieved by the prosecutors of the second Seven Year Plan, will have
arisen to carry forward to a triumphant conclusion the third phase of the
Mission entrusted to them by &Abdu'l-Baha, than that their prodigious
labors, having embraced territories far beyond the confines of the continents
of Europe and of America, should climax in, and be worthily commemorated
through, the world-wide celebrations of the "Most Great Festival," the "King
of Festivals," the "Festival of God" Himself--the Festival associated with the
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accession of Him Who is the Lord of the Kingdom to the throne of everlasting
glory, and with the formal assumption by Him of His prophetic
office? What greater reward than that the consummation of the third Seven
Year Plan, marking the close of the first, and signalizing the opening of
the second, epoch in the evolution of the Divine Plan, should synchronize
with that greatest of all Jubilees, related to the year 1335, mentioned by
Daniel in the last Chapter of His Book, and associated by &Abdu'l-Baha with
the world triumph of His Father's Faith? What greater glory than that
those who have brought this initial epoch in the resistless march of a
world-embracing Plan to a triumphant termination should be made to feel that
they, and those gone before them, have, through their collective, their
sustained, and heroic endeavors, organized through three successive stages, and
covering a span of almost a quarter of a century, been vouchsafed by the
Almighty the privilege of contributing, more than any other community
consciously laboring in the service of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, to this
blissful consummation, and to have played a preponderating role in the world
triumph of its institutions?
Dearly-beloved friends! It is not for us, at this crucial hour, to delve
into the future, to speculate on the possibilities of the Plan and its
orientation, to conjecture on its impact on the unfoldment of an embryonic
World Order, or to dwell on the glories and triumphs which it may hold in
store, or to seek to delineate the mysterious course which a God given Mission,
impelled by forces beyond our power to predict or appraise, may pursue. To
try to obtain a clear view of the shape of things to come would be premature
inasmuch as the glittering prizes to be won are directly dependent on
the measure of success which the combined efforts that are now being
exerted must yield. Ours is the duty to fix our gaze with undeviating
attention on the duties and responsibilities confronting us at this present
hour, to concentrate our resources, both material and spiritual, on the tasks
that lie immediately ahead, to insure that no time is wasted, that no
opportunity is missed, that no obligation is evaded, that no task is
half-heartedly performed, that no decision is procrastinated. The task
summoning us to a challenge, unprecedented in its gravity and force, is too
vast and sacred, the time too short, the hour too perilous, the workers too
few, the call too insistent, the resources too inadequate, for us to allow
these precious and fleeting hours to slip from our grasp, and to suffer the
prizes within our reach to be endangered or forfeited. So much depends upon
us, so pregnant with possibilities is the present stage in the evolution of the
Plan, that great and small, individuals, groups and Assemblies, white and
colored, young and old, neophytes and veterans, settlers, pioneers, itinerant
teachers and administrators, as isolated believers, as organizers of groups,
and as contributors
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to the formation of local or national Assemblies, as builders of the Temple,
as laborers on the home teaching front, or in Latin America, or in the new
transatlantic field of service--all, without exception and in every sphere of
activity, however modest, restricted, or inconspicuous, must participate and
labor, assiduously and continually, until every ounce of our energy is spent,
until, tired but blissful, our promised harvest is brought in, and our pledge
to our Beloved fully redeemed.
However dark the outlook, however laborious the task, however strange
and inhospitable the environment, however vast the distances that must be
traversed, however scarce the amenities of life, however irksome the means
of travel, however annoying the restrictions, however listless and confused
the minds of the peoples and races contacted, however trying the setbacks
that may be suffered, we must, under no circumstances, either falter or
flinch. Our reliance on the unfailing grace of an all-loving, all-preserving,
ever-sustaining, ever-watchful Providence, must, however much we may be
buffeted by circumstances, remain unshaken until the very end. Shall we
not, when hardships seethe about us, and our hearts momentarily quail,
recall the ardent desire so poignantly voiced by &Abdu'l-Baha in those
immortal Tablets that enshrine forever His last wishes for His chosen
disciples: "Oh! that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost
poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of &Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha in
cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings!
This, also, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may
achieve it."
To be privileged to render, in His stead, on so colossal a scale, at such
a challenging hour, and in the service of so sublime a Plan, so great and
enduring a service, is a bounty which we can never adequately appraise. We
stand too close to the noble edifice our hands are rearing, the din and
tumult into which a war-devastated world is now plunged are too distracting,
our own share in the furtherance of those global aims, task and problems
that are increasingly absorbing the attention of mankind and its
leaders is as yet too circumscribed, for us to be in a position to evaluate the
contribution which we, as the executors of &Abdu'l-Baha's Mandate, as the
champion-builders of &Baha'u'llah's Order, as the torch-bearers of a
civilization of which that Order is the mainspring and precursor, are now being
led, through the inscrutable dispensations of an almighty Providence, to
make to the world triumph of our Faith, as well as to the ultimate
redemption of all mankind.
Great have been the blessings, and divers the bestowals, vouchsafed
to this Community ever since the compelling will of a loving Master called
it into being, and raised it up for the glory and honor of His Father's Faith.
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Unnumbered have been the marks of solicitude which, down the years, He
showered upon it, as He nursed it in its infancy, as He fostered its growth,
as He sent forth His messengers and communicated His written instructions
to initiate it into the mysteries of His Cause, as He vitalized it through
personal contact with His own dynamic and vibrant personality, as He
consecrated, through a series of significant acts, the initial activities which
He Himself had enabled it to inaugurate, as He invested it, at a later stage,
in the evening of His life, with that primacy that was to empower it to
launch the Plan which He had conceived for its future development, as
He, through the sustaining power of His spirit from on high, assisted it to
erect the framework of those institutions that were to safeguard its unfoldment
and canalize its energies, as He led it forward to embark upon the
first stage of His own revealed Plan which was to enable it to achieve such
exploits and garner such a harvest in the virgin territories of the New World,
and as He, with that same watchful and loving care, is now marshalling its
forces and sounding the signal for a still greater and more brilliant
deployment of those forces, at a time of great commotion and distress, in one
of the most agitated storm centers of the world.
Strange, indeed, as we look back over the last fifty years that have
witnessed the creation and unfoldment of so powerful an agency for the
execution of &Baha'u'llah's purpose for mankind, that he who had first
raised his voice in public on behalf of so mighty a Faith should have
sprung from the ranks and been recognized as one of the leading representatives
of that narrow and hostile ecclesiastical order which, as the
Faith advances and storms still greater heights, will increasingly launch
against it its determined attacks. Stranger still that he whom posterity
will recognize to have been the founder of that Faith in the Western
Hemisphere, whom the Center of the Covenant, in recognition of so signal
a service, had acclaimed as "&Baha's Peter" and "the Second Columbus",
should have, in his vanity and ambition, deserted the Fold he had labored
to gather, should have allied himself with the Arch-Breaker of the Covenant
of &Baha'u'llah, and remained until the end of his life, a sworn and
bitter enemy of the One Who had entrusted him with such a holy and
historic errand, and conferred upon him such glowing tributes. More
extraordinary still that he who had been instrumental in carrying the
Tablets of the Divine Plan from the One Who had revealed them to those
into whose care they were to be committed, who had enjoyed, for so long
and so intimately, near access to his Master as amanuensis, companion and
interpreter, should have been blinded by his inordinate ambition, and should
have arisen, with all the resources at his disposal, to attack and undermine
the institutions of an Order which, springing from the authentic Will of
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&Abdu'l-Baha, had been designed by Him to be the chief instrument for
the vigorous prosecution of that Plan and the fulfillment of its ultimate
purpose.
Such reflections, far from engendering in our minds and hearts the
slightest trace of perplexity, of discouragement or doubt, should reinforce
the basis of our convictions, demonstrate to us the incorruptibility, the
strange workings and the invincibility of a Faith which, despite the assaults
which malignant and redoubtable enemies from the ranks of kings, princes
and ecclesiastics have repeatedly launched against it, and the violent internal
tests that have shaken it for more than a century, and the relative obscurity
of its champions, and the unpropitiousness of the times and the perversity
of the generations contemporaneous with its rise and growth, has gone
from strength to strength, has preserved its unity and integrity, has diffused
its light over five continents, reared the institutions of its Administrative
Order and spread its ramifications to the four corners of the earth, and
launched its systematic campaigns in both the Western and Eastern
Hemispheres.
For such benefits, for such an arresting and majestic vindication of the
undefeatable powers inherent in our precious Faith, we can but bow our
heads in humility, awe and thanksgiving, renew our pledge of fealty to it, and,
each covenanting in his own heart, resolve to prove faithful to that pledge,
and persevere to the very end, until our earthly share of servitude to so
transcendent and priceless a Cause has been totally and completely fulfilled.
June 15, 1946.
THE UTMOST VIGOR, VIGILANCE AND CONSECRATION
The new Plan on which the American &Baha'i community has embarked,
in the course of the opening years of the second &Baha'i century, is of such
vastness and complexity as to require the utmost vigor, vigilance and
consecration on the part of both the general body of its prosecutors and
those who are called upon, as their National elected representatives, to
conduct its operation, define its processes, watch over its execution, and
insure its ultimate success. The obstacles confronting both its participants
and organizers, particularly in the European field, are formidable, and call
for the utmost courage, perseverance, fortitude and self-sacrifice.
The precarious international situation in both Hemispheres, the distress
and preoccupation of the masses, in most of the countries to which pioneers
will soon be proceeding, with the cares of every day life, the severe
restrictions which are still imposed on visitors and travellers in foreign
lands, the religious conservatism and spiritual lethargy which characterize the
population in most of the lands where the new pioneers are to labor, add to the
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challenge of the task, and render all the more glorious the labors of the
national community that has arisen to achieve what posterity will regard
as the greatest collective enterprise, not only in the history of the community
itself, but in the annals of the Faith with which it stands identified.
The initial success of the enterprise which has been so auspiciously
launched, the enthusiasm which it has already engendered throughout Latin
America, the hopes it has aroused amid the suffering and scattered believers
in war-torn Europe, the feelings of admiration and envy it has excited
throughout several communities in the &Baha'i world in both the East and
the West, augur well for the future course of its operation, and foreshadow
the splendors of the victories which its consummation must witness.
The forces that have been released through the birth of the Plan must be
directed into the most effective channels, the spirit that has been kindled
must be continually nourished, the facilities at the disposal of its organizers
must be fully utilized, each and every barrier that may obstruct its
expansion must be determinedly removed, every assistance which &Baha'i
communities in various lands may wish, or be able, to offer, should be
whole-heartedly welcomed, every measure that will serve to reinforce the
bonds uniting the newly-fledged communities in the Latin world, and to
stimulate the movement, and raise the spirits, of itinerant teachers and
settlers laboring in the continent of Europe, must be speedily undertaken,
if the colossal task, which in the course of seven brief years must be carried
out, is to be befittingly consummated.
The sterner the task, the graver the responsibilities, the wider the field
of exertion, the more persistently must the privileged members of this
enviable community strive, and the loftier must be the height to which
they should aspire, in the course of their God-given mission, and throughout
every stage in the irresistible and divinely guided evolution of their
community life.
Setbacks may well surprise them; trials and disappointments may tax
their patience and resourcefulness; the forces of darkness, either from
within or from without, may seek to dampen their ardor, to disrupt their
unity and break their spirit; pitfalls may surround the little band that must
act as a vanguard to the host which must, in the years to come, spiritually
raise up the sorely ravaged continent of Europe. None of these, however
fierce, sinister or unyielding they may appear, must be allowed to deflect
the protagonists of a God-impelled Plan, from the course which &Abdu'l-Baha
has chosen for them, and which the agencies of a firmly established,
laboriously erected, Administrative Order, are now enabling them to
effectively pursue.
That they may press forward with undiminished fervor, with undimmed
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vision, with unfaltering steps, with indivisible unity, with unflinching
determination until the shining goal is attained is my constant prayer, my
ardent hope, and the dearest wish of my heart.
July 20, 1946
DISTINGUISHED SERVANT
Profoundly grieve passing dearly-beloved, great-hearted, high-minded,
distinguished servant &Baha'u'llah, John Bosch. His saintly life, pioneer
services, historic contribution of institution of summer school, entitle him
to rank among outstanding figures of the closing years heroic, and opening
years of the formative age of the &Baha'i Dispensation. Concourse on high
extol his exalted services. Assure his wife and valiant companion of my
deepfelt sympathy. Advise hold special gathering in Temple as tribute to
his imperishable memory.
Cablegram July 29, 1946
THIS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE
As the opening phase of the Second Seven Year Plan draws inexorably to a
close, the American &Baha'i community, which has already abundantly
demonstrated its capacity to carry to a triumphant conclusion the initial stage
of the Plan conceived by &Abdu'l-Baha, must equally--nay, even more convincingly
--prove to the entire &Baha'i world, its inflexible determination
and undoubted ability to discharge befittingly whatever responsibilities the
constant evolution of the Plan may impose upon its members under any
circumstances and in whatever continent of the globe. As the field of their
historic labors steadily widens, as the implications of their high mission
become more apparent, as the complexity of their task increases, as the
agencies designed to facilitate and accelerate its execution multiply, the
members of this community must, individually as well as collectively,
redouble their efforts, evince a nobler spirit of self-sacrifice, display
greater resourcefulness, unity, initiative, steadfastness and enterprise, rise
to loftier heights of heroism and self-abnegation, and establish, more
convincingly than ever, their right to be regarded as the worthy champions of a
glorious Cause, the principal builders of a unique Order, the chosen trustees
and executors of a divinely conceived Plan.
Theirs is the duty, at once urgent, inescapable and sacred, to scatter
more widely and as far as the extremities of both the North and South
American continents, to cross the ocean in ever-increasing numbers, and
reinforce, rapidly and systematically, the outposts of the Faith in Western
Europe, lay, on a definite and unassailable basis, the foundations of new
and flourishing communities, disseminate, energetically, and on a far more
+P107
extensive scale, the literature of the Faith in all the languages which the
execution of the Plan, at its present stage, demands, collaborate more closely
with the two National Assemblies and their subsidiary agencies already
functioning in that continent, initiate, wisely and patiently, whatever
measures may be required to further the purposes of the Plan, and surmount,
at whatever cost, every obstacle they may encounter in their path.
As to those who, owing to circumstances beyond their control, are
unavoidably prevented from participating in this national and inter-continental
crusade, and are denied the privilege of struggling in the forefront
of battle, either at home or abroad, theirs is the no less meritorious task,
to aid by every means in their power, whether through financial assistance,
constant support and encouragement, the supply of literature or the appointment
of deputies, the little band of their heroic brethren, who have assumed
so preponderating a share of the responsibilities now facing the entire
community: all, without exception, without reservation, without further delay,
must participate. Each and every one, to the fullest extent of his or her
ability, and however distracting the prevailing circumstances, or circumscribed
the means, must arise to contribute to the success of this new
enterprise, that will at once safeguard the fruits already garnered through
the successful conclusion of the first stage of the Divine Plan, and enable
its prosecutors to launch, at the appointed time, the third and a still more
glorious stage in its evolution.
There is no time to lose. The task, though prodigious, is not beyond
the capacity of those, who, in so short a time, in such distant fields, over
so wide an area, and in the midst of a people so alien in temperament,
language and custom, have won such conspicuous victories for their beloved
Faith, and laid so enduring a foundation for its nascent institutions.
This gallant community is now summoned to undertake, further afield
and in circumstances admittedly more adverse and challenging, a task
infinitely more meritorious, and considerably richer in its potentialities. To
fail, at this critical juncture to rise to the height of the occasion, would
jeopardize the colossal work so painstakingly achieved in the course of many
long years, and irretrievably shatter the hopes for the early opening of the
third and most shining phase of the Divine Plan,--a stage whose completion
must mark the closing of the initial Epoch in the Plan's progressive
unfoldment.
May this community, faithful to its pledge and obedient to &Abdu'l-Baha's
mandate, arise as one man and carry out, in its entirety and within
the stipulated time, the task on which it has so spontaneously embarked.
October 5, 1946
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THE FORCES MYSTERIOUSLY RELEASED
The opening year of the second Seven Year Plan so auspiciously inaugurated
is half spent. The entire American &Baha'i Community, galvanized
through fuller perception of the progressive unfoldment of its glorious
destiny, is geared to a higher speed of organized activity, and uplifted to a
new level of collective achievement. The forces mysteriously released,
designed to direct the operation and stimulate the processes to insure the
consummation of the second stage of the Divine Plan, are inconceivably
potent. Full, rapid use of these forces, by an organized community alive
to the sublimity of its mission, is imperative. The manifold agencies, local,
regional, national and intercontinental, directly responsible for prosecution
of the Plan are now called upon to achieve, in their respective spheres, ere
termination of this current year, successes so conspicuous as shall
immeasurably fortify hopes of winning, within the stipulated time, a total,
decisive victory. An immediate notable increase in the number of pioneers,
particularly for the newly-opened transatlantic field of service, is the
supreme necessity of this challenging hour. The present trickle must at all
costs swell into a steady flow of consecrated settlers and itinerant teachers,
who, mindful of the Master's poignant plea, careless of their limited
resources, undismayed by the somber international outlook, undeterred by the
formidable character of the tasks undertaken or by the obstacles to be
surmounted, will, in both the administrative and teaching spheres, arise to
accomplish feats outshining the exploits immortalizing the record of American
&Baha'i stewardship in both continents of the New World since the inception of
&Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. May the months immediately ahead be productive
of results exceeding my fondest expectations.
Cablegram October 7, 1946
THE PIVOT ON WHICH HINGES SUCCESS
I recall with profound emotion, on the morrow of the Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary of &Abdu'l-Baha's passing, the dramatic circumstances marking
simultaneously the termination of the Heroic Age, and the commencement
of the Formative Period, of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
I acclaim with thankfulness, joy and pride the American &Baha'i
community's manifold, incomparable services rendered the Faith at home and
across the seas in the course of this quarter century.
I hail with particular satisfaction the consummation of the twin major
tasks spontaneously undertaken and brilliantly discharged by the same community
in both the administrative and missionary fields, constituting the
greatest contribution ever made to the progress of the Faith by any corporate
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body at any time, in any continent, since the inception of the administrative
order.
Nursed during its infancy by &Abdu'l-Baha's special care and unfailing
solicitude; invested at a later stage with spiritual primacy through the
symbolic acts associated with His historic visit to the North American
continent; summoned subsequently to the challenge through the revelation
of the epoch-making Tablets of the Divine Plan; launched on its career
according to the directives of and through the propelling force generated
by these same Tablets; utilizing with skill, resourcefulness and tenacity,
for the purpose of executing its mission, the manifold agencies evolving
within the administrative order, in the erection of whose fabric it has
assumed so preponderating a share; emerging triumphantly from the arduous
twofold campaign undertaken simultaneously in the homeland and in
Latin America; this community now finds itself launched in both hemispheres
on a second, incomparably more glorious stage, of the systematic
crusade designed to culminate, in the course of successive epochs, in the
spiritual conquest of the entire planet.
The task of this stern hour is challenging, its scale of operation
continually widening, the races and nations to be contacted highly diversified,
the forces of resistance more firmly entrenched, yet the prizes destined for
the valiant conquerors are inestimably precious and the sustaining Grace of
the Lord of Hosts promised to the executors of His mandate is indescribably
potent.
The present European project heralding the spiritual regeneration of
the entire continent is the pivot on which hinges the success of the second
Seven Year Plan. I appeal to the National representatives of the community,
in conjunction with the European Teaching Committee, to focus attention
upon its immediate requirements. The dispatch of nine additional pioneers
to facilitate the immediate formation of stable groups in the goal towns
of the ten selected countries is imperative. The selection of suitable
literature, its prompt translation into the languages required, its publication
and wide dissemination, is essential. The visit of an ever-swelling number of
itinerant teachers designed to foster the development of the groups is urgently
required. A more liberal allocation of funds for the furtherance of the
most vital objective is indispensable.
I entreat the entire community to arise, while time remains, contribute
generously, volunteer its services and accelerate its momentum, to assure
the total success of the first, most momentous collective enterprise launched
by the American &Baha'i community beyond the barriers of the Western
Hemisphere.
Cablegram December 3, 1946
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FIFTH YEAR OF PLAN
MESSAGE TO 1941 CONVENTION
The Fifth Year of the Seven Year Plan is opening under circumstances
of utmost gravity in Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The fever of the
times is steadily mounting, throwing into sharper relief the contrast between
the rising greatness of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah and the falling fortunes of a
moribund civilization. The American &Baha'i Community, rapidly pursuing
the career traced by unerring finger of &Abdu'l-Baha, can neither halt nor
waver. I cannot forbear address my particular plea to focus, owing to virtual
termination of Temple ornamentation, attention on teaching requirements of
the Plan. I appeal to incoming National Assembly, its auxiliary Teaching
Committees and subsidiary agencies to deliberate and devise means to insure
prompt reinstatement of the Assemblies recently disbanded and formation
of Assembly in each newly-opened State and Province of North America and
continuity of the consolidation of the pioneer work initiated in every Latin
Republic. Undismayed by aggravation of the fury of the world tempest
threatening their shores, scornful of the agitation stirred up by their
adversaries, the breakers of the Covenant, the resolute upholders of the Divine
Plan will, indeed cannot but, persist in their ordained task to propagate the
flame, enlarge the administrative limits, and strike deeper roots of the
world-encircling world-redeeming Faith of &Baha'u'llah.
Shoghi Rabbani
Cablegram received April 23, 1941.